


Sealed with a Kiss

by rdm2



Series: A treaty changes everything [1]
Category: Wiedźmin | The Witcher (Video Game), Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Arranged Marriage, M/M, Panic Attacks, treaty marriage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-22
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:14:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 25,897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27675895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rdm2/pseuds/rdm2
Summary: Temeria and the Scoia'tael have always been at odds. But with another war with Nilfgaard becoming very likely, King Foltest decides that fighting a war on two fronts is foolish and decides to send Roche to find Iorveth, alive, with an offer of a treaty. What they don't know? Foltest wants to seal the treaty with their marriage.
Relationships: Iorveth/Vernon Roche
Series: A treaty changes everything [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2124720
Comments: 21
Kudos: 69





	1. Captured

Iorveth ran through the woods cursing his luck. Roche and his stripes were close behind. He had been ambushed as he had knelt to drink from a creek. He had only had a sip when he heard the crack of a fallen stick. Jerking his head up he spotted a flash of blue fabric in the distance and was up in a flash darting off into woods, hearing humans cursing behind him. They had gotten uncomfortably close, he was lucky none had taken a shot. 

Ducking past a low branch he turned to see if he could still see or hear them. He nervously took a few steps back. He was paying so much attention to looking around him that he missed what was on the ground. He stepped back into a snare attached to a tree. With a yelp, he flew into the air spinning in circles, bow and arrows falling to the ground out of reach. He covered his mouth, but he knew he must have been heard. 

Calming down he started to look for a knife in his pockets, when a hand grabbed his wrists. He looked up to see Roche grabbing it. He snarls, trying to jerk back his heart racing. Roche seemed annoyed. “Don’t touch me dh’ione.” Roche turns away nodding at one of his men, who walked over and started going through his pockets, pulling out all his weapons. 

He jerked away from another dh’ione touching him. “Calm down elf.” He spits in his face. Roche snarls back now, getting even more annoyed, tightening his hands till his wrists hurt. The other human continued to pat Iorveth down, then nodded at Roche. Holding his wrists with one hand, he reached in his pockets for rope, then with the other human’s help, he bound his wrists removing his hands.

He spat at them again and they placed a cloth gag on his mouth. Then Roche took a firm hold of his upper body while the other stepped behind him holding onto his lower body and legs. A third step towards him grabbing hold of the leg that was bound. He tried to kick out, but they held firm. His heart was in his throat, his head jerking around trying to keep all three of them in his sights.

Roche nodded and the third stripe cut the rope causing the three of them to catch him. His hold loosened, and the other two set him on the ground, leaving him leaning against Roche. He pulled away from him trying to run. But he was grabbed before he got more than a step away. Roche held the end of the rope and pulled him forward. He snarled again pulling away. 

He sighed. “Ves?” The human woman whose shirt always seemed to be falling off, even mid-battle leaving her heart exposed, stepped forward with a frown. 

Walking behind him with her crossbow pressing the point of her bolt into his neck. “Move.” He hesitated, but grudgingly moved forward. They walked in the opposite direction of his men, so he couldn’t rely on them spotting him. He briefly closed his eyes, cursing his luck. 

They leave the forest to find a wagon waiting. He was pushed forward stumbling into the cart. His legs were grabbed, and he panicked kicking out. He felt a hand press down on the back of his neck. He freezes “Calm down elf, you're not gonna be hurt. The king wants to talk to you.” 

The hand stays on his neck as his boots are removed and ropes are tied around his legs. The ropes are tied so he can still somewhat walk, but running will be impossible, limiting his ability to escape. The hand on his neck rubs little circles with its thumb. He focuses on them, instead of the other human. 

As the other human’s step away from him, the touch stops. He looks up at Roche a bit confused. The human settles down next to him, as the horses start moving back to town, the other humans either upfront, or walking beside them. The human is still frowning. “If I ungag you will you continue to spit at me?” Iorveth shook his head. He untied the knot. The wagon continued to travel down the road. 

Iorveth turns to Roche “And what does a dh’ione king want to talk to me about?” he inquired.

Roche looks over at him. “About a treaty.” Iorveth freezes for a moment, this could be good or bad.

“And who is he treating with, I’m sure most of his lot would love an elven head as a gift, or am I to be part of a necklace.” 

Roche jerks startled “Ah, no, he wishes to treat with you.”

Iorveth couldn’t believe his ears, if true this was good, very good. “How... interesting. What caused his change of heart.”

Roche snorted. “In a word Nilfgaard” Iorveth raised an eyebrow. “Come on even hiding in the woods you can’t have missed the upcoming war. King Foltest doesn’t want to fight a war on two fronts. And right now they’re the bigger threat.” They hit a bump in the road. 

“Does he expect us to fight for him? '' his voice rose incredulous at the audacity of this arrogant dh’ione.

“At least for you to stay out of the fight, and not attack Termarian troops, hopefully to get you to attack the Nilfgaardian troops, do you really care what humans you're killing?” Roche shrugged.

“You do not understand me dh’ione” he turns away, angered. Most of that was acceptable and expected for a treaty, but he doesn’t kill, just to kill. He doesn’t kill for fun. He's not that kind of monster. He kills to protect his people, he kills for a better future for his people. They both stay silent for the rest of the trip.

Roche got up first when they stopped, still holding onto the rope. “You coming or are you staying here all day?” Iorveth narrowed his eyes. Shifting forward he tried to get down while tied, almost losing his balance when he tries to stand. A hand shoots out and helps to steady him before he falls. He looks over to see a considering look on Roche’s face. He jerks away once he’s not concerned about falling.

With the rope in one hand he starts to walk into the building, other humans around them staring and whispering to themselves. “Draw a picture, it'll last longer.” He snarls. Roche pulls on the rope causing him to almost trip. He gives Roche a foul glare, but he doesn’t seem to care. 

“Come on we need to get you ready before the carriage gets here, ”

“What” Iorveth replies blankly.

Roche pauses “Well, you need to bathe and change into something more appropriate”

“You will touch me such over my dead body”

“I’m less concerned about your dead body, and more with whoevers dead body, that,” he nodded to his clothes. “Came from.”

Iorveth pulled back again. “No. Fuck off.” but Roche simply continued to pull him along, down a set of stairs and he had to follow or fall down them instead. They stopped in front of a closed door. Roche opened it, pulling Iorveth inside. There was an underground spring here creating a pool of water in the center of the room. The humans had stuff strewn around, a pile of towels in a corner, some baskets with names lined across a wall, boxes and barrels strewn about. One of them had some clothes and a folded towel. 

He heard Roche close the door behind him, locking it. He stiffened in his spot. Unsure of what the human was planning he stood frozen in his spot. The human walked over standing in front of him, frowning again. “I’m gonna untie you so you can bathe yourself, if you try to attack me, I am still armed, so is everyone else in the building, and I can and will bathe you myself if you try anything alright?” He warily nodded his head. “You will be rebound before leaving this room.”

Roche grabbed the ropes tying his ankles together first warily kneeling down in front of him, loosening the bindings for Iorveth to step out of. Then standing up and loosening the ropes around his wrists. Iorveth rubbed at his sore wrists still wary. 

“Come on we don’t have all day,” Roche grumbled before surprisingly turning away. Guess he was too scared for even a dh’ione to want to watch, he thought miserably while stripping himself, including his bandana. He stepped into the water, letting the coolness of it wash the sweat from his body. He found some soap nearby and began to wash himself, trying not to look at his reflection in the water. 

Roche stared at the wall in front of him, trying to think of anything but the naked elf behind him. But as imaginings of Iorveth's naked body invaded his thoughts of tax reports, he knew he had to try something else. His mother did raise him with some manners.

"So what are you going to ask for?" He heard an inquiring noise behind him. "In the treaty."

"For equal rights for my people. For laws protecting them from discrimination. I want a safe home for my people. Oh, and preferably to be allowed to continue living in the woods. Though I can compromise on letting people in further."

"Honestly would have thought you would ask for your own land."

"Even I know that's only a pipe dream." The elf let out a sorrowful chuckle.

"Oh" was the only reply he could give. He stared at the walls in silence.

"I'm done." Came a quiet voice.

Not looking in the pool, he walked over to the barrel with the towel and clothes on top. Picking them up, he walked over to Iorveth handing them to him being careful to not make skin contact with him. Keeping his eyes averted as the elf dressed. He heard a snort. “You can look now.” He looked up and froze. He had seen the clothes before, fuck he had literally just handed them to him, but wow. His mouth went dry.

A bright green robe that went down to his knees, covered in softer green plants that end in bold blue flowers that he could not name, and hidden butterflies, with a plain green under-robe that was a shade lighter. A white belt and sash with the same blue color for the leaved plants, with gold flowers on it. There was a pair of pants that went under it with gold diamonds, outlined with silver then black. He was still shoeless. Oops.

He looked around to where the shoes had fallen to the floor. Gold backless slippers with the same blue in a stripe across the top. “Here, sorry.”

“Where did you find this, it’s authentic?” Iorveth asked

“Some asshole noble who pissed off Foltest, my Stripes led the charge, we got to keep some of his shit for our troubles. Don’t ask what Fenn took.” He shook his head.

The elf was still looking down at the cloth. “Is something wrong, I can find other clothes” 

His head jerked up, panicked, stepping back “No!” He looks away. “I know who made it.”

“Oh, sorry, I, uh... should I return it, or could give it back, umm” He was babbling a bit, he hadn’t considered who made them.

“They are long dead. They made it as a gift for me. I had...” He trailed off, with a sad tone.

“I’m sorry for your loss.” What else could he say? Fuck.

“It’s okay, you didn’t kill my parents”


	2. On their way!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iorveth finishes his bath, boarding a boat, and a nightmare

Fuck why did he say that. Fuck, fuck, fuck. Roche was staring at him frozen with shock. What should he say? Why did he say that?

A whisper "I'm still sorry for your loss." He flinched. 

"Whatever dh'oine, let's get this over with and held out his wrists. Roche nodded, wrapping the rope around them again, binding him once more. Iorveth watched as the human knelt down to tie his feet together. 

"Oh, the shoes." The human fumbled and grabbed them from the floor where they had fallen. He brought them over to his foot and looked up at him. "I need you to pick up your foot." Iorveth felt himself blushing. "You can lean on me if you want."

He lifted his foot though he did not take up the human's offer. He slid the shoe onto his foot then they switched for the other foot.

"Ah, one more thing. He held out a clean bandana for him to wear. Same blue color as the outfit."

Roche got up grabbing the end of the rope. He led him back up the stairs. Into the main room. Looking outside there was a carriage. Well guess they're leaving. He stayed close to Roche not sure of the other humans. 

"Alright. Please do not burn this place down while I'm gone. I should only be a week at most" The other humans gave him salutes, some seemed more regulation than others. He looked to Roche who didn't seem upset or surprised.

They walk outside to the carriage, he sneers at the humans that have once again gathered to stare at him. Roche snorts, “Ignore them.” Iorveth doesn’t say anything, but can’t help keeping an eye on the gathering humans, just in case. Roche goes up the steps first giving the rope as much length as he can. Iorveth hops up the steps a bit less shure with his feet bound. He settles down into his seat across from Roche. 

Roche reached over and knocked twice on the door, the sound of a lock were heard. He shrugs. "Once the treaty is in place we shouldn't need so many precautions."

Iorveth snorts. He wishes he could at least look out a window but there were curtains drawn on the outside. He closes his eyes hoping to at least getting some rest on this journey. 

"Anything you wanna talk about." His eyes flicking open he looks over at the dh'ione raising a brow. Roche shrugs, "we’re gonna be stuck together for a while once we get to the boat.”

“Boat?”

“Faster and easier than using this carriage. We want this done fast.”

“True, more secure too.” He gives Roche an unamused look.

“Not everyone will be happy about this treaty, if the wrong person, human or elf, hears about this, there could be trouble.”

"That would be quite ironic, if we get ambushed. My men are unlikely as they will likely stay in the woods with me missing, and any human bandit would get a nasty surprise, even with me bound."

"If we get attacked, I'll cut the ropes. Not taking any chances. Sorry for not letting you contact your men. We, uh, didn't think you'd want to come."

He tilts his head considering. "I probably would have laughed if you had simply asked me. I would have thought it a trap."

"Not anymore?"

"This would be a very elaborate trap. If you had wanted me dead, I would have bled out in the forest." 

"True. You probably didn't like that, but finding you in that rabbit trap was hilarious."

Iorveth snorted. "My ankle still hurts from that." He grumbles.

"Sorry, do you want me to take a look, can't do much, but I can look."

"No, thank-you."

"So do you want to talk?"

"I don't care."

"Do you know what you're going to ask of the king?"

"Peace for my people has always been my life's goal."

"Strange way to go about it. Most people who want that kinda change go into politics."

He felt so tired. "We tried that, it went poorly. We figure out that the only way to make dh'ione listen is to hurt the kings profit."

"That makes sense. That's why you target the merchants, most people say it's for supplies."

"No, we have other ways of getting what we need," he shrugged, "and at least most of what we want." He rolls his eyes considering the things his men have asked for. 

"Your guys drive you nuts too?" Roche asked knowingly.

He gives a non-committal humm, not wanting to admit the things his men have gotten into, especially with a dh'ione. He stops and thinks. "This why you’re such a good interrogator?" He tries to keep his annoyance out of his voice. He really should have known better. 

"Well yeah, but that's not what I'm trying to do right now. He sounds a mix of embarrassed and surprised.

“Hmmm”

“Honestly, I’m just making small talk.”

Iorveth considers this. Then the carriage stops, he flicks his eyes to the door. “That was quick, why did we need the carriage again.”

Roche snorts as he gets up, “Officially security, until the treaty,” he shrugs, “But, well do you want a bunch of human’s staring at you, possibly getting aggressive.” 

He winced at the idea. Roche picked up the rope as the door was unlocked, and opened. The soldier, who was not a stripe, glared at him. Roche went down the steps first, he followed him. As they went up the gangplank into the ship, he noticed him making sure to stay between him and the soldier, glaring right back, and wasn’t sure how to feel about it. 

Once on the ship Roche walked beside him as they walked into their cabin, letting go of the rope. He once more knocked twice and the door was locked. Iorveth looked around the room.

The room was decently sized, with a pole in the middle that seemed to be load bearing, There was a basket and a couch to one side, with a door in the back that could be an exit, or a bath, or a closet, he didn’t know, probably a closet, though. On the other side there was a large cabinet, a small desk, and a window. Hopefully this one wasn’t blocked. On the back wall there is a bench with storage and a single large bed. There were two bags on the bed, one for each of them he supposed. On the single bed...

He turned to Roche giving him a questioning look. “You can have the bed, I’ll take the couch.” He offered reaching for the knots beginning to untying them. Iorveth nodded not sure whether to be relieved he wouldn’t have to deal with sharing a bed with a dh’oine, or shamed that even a dh’oine found him so disgusting as to not be near him, perhaps it was just because they were still enemies, as Roche knelt to get the rope on his feet. 

He started rubbing his wrists as he walked further into the room poking around. Roche walked over to said couch and took a seat watching him head cocked to the side curious. He felt his ear tips burn, not sure what he thought of the attention, it’s not like he was going anywhere. Why? He decided to ignore him. Ah, it is a closet he thought.

He investigated the two bags on the bed. Opening the first one he found a blue stripes uniform, this had better be Roche’s bag. He stopped and opened the second one he found another set of elvish clothes, and a set of light sleep clothes, thankfully he didn’t recognize either of these sets. There was also a comb in the bag. He handed the first bag to Roche, who thanked him. He walked over to the window to watch the river outside and the passing woods. 

“I’ll go get some food.” Roche offers and knocked on the door. The door was slowly opened with a soldier's head poking inside first, before it was completely opened. The soldier glanced around and spooked at spotting Iorveth. Rohe cleared his throat regaining his attention. They then left, locking at the door behind them.

Iorveth was content with watching the outside for a time before he spotted one of his men on the other side. He flashed signs for safe, and don’t attack, and waited to see whether Morlais had seen them. With a sigh of relief he watched as he repeated the signs back at him. He signed yes, and peace at him. This startled Morlais, who almost fell from his tree. He caught himself nodding at him slipping back into the woods. 

Just then the door opened, he jumped startled, with some guilt on his face. “Got food.” He passed a bowl of stew to him, before settling back on the couch. Iorveth settled on the bed to eat his waiting to see if Roche was going to say anything. But dinner passed in peace. 

When they finished Roche took both bowls to the door, knocking on the door and passing the bowls to a soldier outside. “I wish to rest.”

“That’s fine. I’ll try to be quiet” he turned his head away. Iorveth slipped out of his new old clothes, tucking them under his pillow and into the green and orange slip shift. He considered, then took his bandana off, unbrading his hair, climbing beneath the covers while threading it though his fingers. It took awhile for him to get his brain to stop thinking, but he did slowly drift off to sleep.   
\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Roche watched as the elf’s chest rose and fell, slipping into sleep. He knew he was hiding something from him. Most likely he had spotted one of his men on the shore. There had been a bit of a panic outside, as someone thought they had seen an elf on the shore. Iorvetth did seem to be, while a bit wary understandably, quite interested in this treaty, so he didn’t think he was going to order an attack. 

He wasn’t sure why he was so trusting of Iorveth, but his instincts were telling him he was safe. He decided he should also get some sleep. Changing into his own shift, he laid down on the couch, throwing a blanket over himself and tried to settle into sleep. They should travel all day tomorrow and then arrive the next morning at the La Valette Castle, he was to deliver a letter to the lady of the castle before continuing on to the royal castle. Then well, it would depend on the negotiations, and who knows how long that will take.

He closed his eyes hoping to get a restful sleep. A quiet noise jolted him, he lifted his head and blearily looked around trying to identify the noise. He heard it again and looked towards the bed. “Iorveth?” He prompted, in reply he heard a soft whimper. This made him get up. He walked over and saw that he was having a nightmare. He was hesitant to touch him while asleep. “Iorveth” He called louder. Still asleep Iorveth grabbed Roche’s arm pulling him closer. Startled, he fell forward landing on top of Iorveth. Which at least woke the elf up. He looked up at him frozen terrified. “Iorveth?” He asked again. 

“Yes?” he heard still quietly. 

“You were having a nightmare, I came over to try to wake you and grabbed my arm, I, uh, fell over when you did so.” He told the elf embarrassed. 

“Oh,” The elf let go of his arm. “I, um,” he looked away, “Stay.”

Roche swallowed “If you're okay with it.”

“Yes, I do not want to be alone right now”

“Even if it means sharing a bed with a dh’oine?” he teased.

But the elf looked him dead in the eye and nodded, grabbing his forgotten bandana, and putting it back on not bothering to rebraid, or tuck his hair beneath it. He turned around and Roche settled in behind him, trying to be careful of where his hands were. He would let Iorveth take charge of when they touched. He closed his eyes and attempted to go back to sleep.  
\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Iorveth startled awake feeling as though there was no breath in his lungs. Eyes flying open he saw Roche on top of him and froze. What was he doing here? He barely heard the words said. A nightmare, it was all a nightmare. He was still holding onto the dh’oine’s arm, he let go. There would probably be a bruise there tomorrow. He needed another person, anyone to ground him to the fact that he was here in this time and not, his mind shielded away from the memory, he was not there.

His name was Iorveth, he was 2500 years old. He was a Scoia’tael commando currently living in the forests outside of Flotsam. He was headed to Vizima to treat with the king there. King Foltest. He was traveling with Roche, who had captured him. Roche led the blue stripes who had stayed in Flotsam. He was unexplainably safe with Roche.

He settled back down, with a new weight behind him, and tried to drift off again. This was going to be a long night. The last thing he heard was soft snoring behind him


	3. Good Morning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warning- Iorveth remembers last night's nightmare here. Starts with "Iorveth laid back down on the bed thinking about last night's nightmare" and ends with "Until he heard a small (spoiler)"   
> Also in this chapter my OC Morlais!

Morning came too soon. Iorveth thought, snuggling deeper into the warmth of the bed. That was moving. He opened his eyes to see that he was cuddling into Roche’s side. Roche was laid out on his stomach with his arms at his side, though he seemed to have snuggled under one. He carefully removed himself and grabbed the brush sitting at the desk to give himself some space away. Combing through his hair and braiding it into its usual style. He grabbed his bag with his new clothes and began to change.

The new clothes were a three-layer robe of a sea-green color with a light gold floral design on the outermost layer with some stripes in the upper sleeves, but back to flowers in the lower sleeve, then light stripes with small tassels on the end, and a plain under robe. There was a bit of lace on the sleeve end, and a small slit on the innermost robe. It had a darker teal-colored color with real shells on it and three tassels descending from it. There was a scarf that came with it that he knew was simply draped on the shoulder. His shoes didn’t quite match, but Iorveth wasn’t going to complain. There was also a light blue bandana in the bag that seemed to go with it, but was definitely not elven made. He put it on anyway.

He heard Roche stir from the bed groaning and tucking his face under his arm. He chuckled and watched him lift his head to look at him half-awake. As his brain awoke he pushed off the bed into a sitting position, before stretching and scratching his back. Iorveth tilted his head.

“Food, and clothes need washing” Roche declared, “Do you want to come or stay put? Coming with does, unfortunately, mean the ropes still.” 

Iorveth frowned, “Unlike any of the stories you hear, I will need to use the bathroom, at some point.” 

“I can check, but I think there’s a close stool in the closet. Otherwise if you go out there’s the head, your choice.” He shrugged and changed into his fresh uniform. Gathering his shift and yesterday's clothes along with a bar of soap from his bag. He turned to Iorveth waiting for a reply.

“I’ll use the close stool for now. Maybe go out later.”

“That’s fine, just let me know. If you want the close stool emptied knock twice on the door and the guard will open it, you can hand it out to him then. May I have your laundry? I don’t mind doing it with mine.” 

Iorveth hesitated then handed him his sleep shift and with some more hesitance handed over the robes from yesterday. 

“I’ll take care of them.” He promised setting them to the side to get food first before knocking on the door twice and being let out by the guard. 

Iorveth laid back down on the bed thinking about last night's nightmare. After all the treaty talk yesterday he should have expected it. He squinted his eyes shut trying to stop the memory of betrayal once by those whom he had sworn to, then by those they were given over to in treaty. Empty promises of ‘fair hearings’ and ‘benign and rapid judgments or amnesty” proven false with a spear through his eye as he toppled into the ravine below. Landing upon fallen friends the pain so overwhelming he wished to weep, and wail at it, but needing to pretend to be as dead as those he lied with less it became truth. He thinks he passed out after a while with the spear still stuck in his eye, broken with the force of the blow. The smell of death surrounded him, and any noise or sign of life was met with an arrow shot, sometimes he thinks some of those shots were for the thrill of it. 

He remembers waiting for hours until he was sure they were gone, then stumbling, sometimes crawling for miles on a broken leg following the old river bed hoping to find safety. He found it with the dryads of Brokilon, who took him in and healed him. Broken leg, broken ribs, missing eye with speartip jutting out of the hole, they all pulled to the loss of his fellow officers. He curled into a ball laying there lost in memory. 

Until he heard a small “merr?” He blinked his eyes to see one of the ship cats, a young one barely more than a kitten, looking back at him from the ground. The cat jumped onto the bed and padded over to headbutt him. He chuckled and started petting the cat, who started purring at this attention, curling up beside him.

Roche walked down to the galley for breakfast meals to bring back to the cabin. Most of the soldiers ignored him, though the cook just looked bored. He grabbed some rye and two chunks of cheese, but was stopped by a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey aren't prisoners transported on the barge if needed?" Said a sailor lip curled.

He stood straight and met his eyes. "King's orders."

"The fuck this about? I don't want a squirrel on my fucking ship!" Said another man sitting nearby.

"Top secret. Besides last I checked you weren't Captain. Something change?

The first man puffed himself out trying to look bigger "It might if you don't get the fucking knife-ear off my ship you fucking elf-fucker.

"King Foltest gave me a direct command to bring the Scoia'teal Commando Iorveth to him personally, so unless your planning high treason, fuck off."

"Oi! No food for you sods unless you fuck off!" The cook yelled.

"You want the fucking tree-fucker here?" The sailor yelped.

"I ain't getting involved in no fucking mutiny, so get that straight. No leave the man alone and come get your food."

The men grumbled, but stomped off grabbing his food and leaving.

"Thank-you." He told the cook.

"Here he'll want this too." Whispered the cook handing him a small bowl of berries. "My wife loves them, or well she did. Guessing your friend would be the same."

Roche nodded and took the bowl, placing the cheese on top to hide the fruit.

He managed to get back to the cabin peacefully. The guard didn’t look at him, as he opened the door for him. He was startled to find when he entered to find Iorveth curled into a ball with one of the boat’s cats. He quickly put the food down and rushed over to Iorveth.

“Iorveth?” He sat down next to him. “Iorveth? Are you okay?”

“Fine.” He didn’t look up, or even move.

He paused, “I brought food, do you want some?”

“Sure,” he slowly got up, not looking at him, and keeping his hand on the purring cat.

He handed one of the rye rolls, a chunk of cheese, and the bowl of berries, “I see you’ve made a friend.” He prompted. Settling down on the couch, he started eating his own food.

“Yes, she decided that this bed was the most comfortable.” He paused, “I had been thinking on last night's dream, and she decided to jump up here, I don’t know though how she got in..” 

“Who knows, cats do as they please,” Roche had an idea, watching the two of them, but he had to talk to the captain first. “Do you want to talk about it?” He offers.

“No.” Iorveth had already finished off the berries and was now taking small bites of his food. 

Roche sat for another minute thinking before deciding to do the laundry. “You wanna stay in here again, and play with the cat or go for a walk? Still need to do the laundry.”

“I’ll stay here.” Yeah, the elf didn’t look up for socializing. He nodded and took the laundry knocking twice on the door to be let out.   
\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   
As the door closed Iorveth breathed out a sigh of relief, getting up he finally decided to use the close stool opening the closet to pull it out. The nice thing about these robes, he thought amused, is the easy of access for this. Lifting his robes, he aimed his dick into the stool. Feeling more relieved he tucked himself away. 

He started poking around the room with the cat following him around. “Bloed gath” He muttered amused. He didn’t find much, whoever had been here before had cleaned out all their stuff. Annoyed at finding nothing, he walked over to the window only to find Morlais clinging to the outside. He facepalmed, before seeing if he could open the window. To his surprise, he could.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” He hissed out, looking back at the door, nervous. 

“Ciaran told me to keep an eye on you. He didn’t seem too impressed by the idea of a treaty.”

“And since when has Ciaran been in charge of this unit?”

“Ehhh, I’d just rather be following you than dealing with him in a snit.”

Iorveth sighed. “Fine, just stay out of sight from the humans, and behave.”

Morlais gave a sloppy salute, “Oh, and before I forget” He handed Iorveth a bag, It’s got your favorite dagger, your recorder, some treats, and your lucky charm.” He wrinkled his nose at the last one.

He paused, and slowly said “Hold on to my dagger for now.” 

Morlais gave him a look, “If you're sure, boss.”

Iorveth nodded. He heard footsteps outside the door. “Out now before they see you” He half pushes him out the window.

“Going, going,” he leaped out, holding onto the outer frame, “gone.” Iorveth closed the window, and dove for the bed, settling into a meditative stance. 

Roche came in and looked around frowning, shit the bag, he made sure not to look at it. “Laundry done already?” He asked.

Roche looked up sheepish, scratching his head “I forgot the soap.” Iorveth snorted. He watched him walk over to the couch and pick the bar of soap up, before exiting again.

“You gonna let him fuck you?” He heard a voice from the window. He spun around to glare at the Skelliger-raised elf. “What? Have you seen how he watches you?” He slammed the window closed. Face blushing he throws himself on the bed with a tired moan. He'll give it ten minutes. 

Roche hung up the laundry on the clothesline, he had one more stop before heading back to the cabin. It was rather warm for a spring day, so hopefully the clothes would dry fast. He felt bad about leaving Iorveth alone in the cabin, but well, they needed clean clothes and food. 

Knocking on the captain’s door he heard an “Enter.” Stepping into the captain’s cabin, he turned to her saluting.

“Morning Captain,” He offers, walking over to her desk. 

“There a problem?” She asked bored, looking through some papers. ‘Heard the boys were giving you some trouble during breakfast.“

“Nothing much, your cook took care of that pretty quickly, I’m actually here about a cat.”

She looked up at him. “A cat?” she asked dubiously. “Roche give it to me straight, what do you want.”

“Honestly, there’s this little black and white fella that’s made its way into my cabin”

“Oh, that one, she’s one of missy’s litter.” She shrugged, “Was gonna kick her off once she was big enough, you want her? Always seemed more like a dog person to me.” 

“Hardy, har-har, a hound joke. Seriously though Morgan, I can pay.”

“You want her, you can have her. Have fun with that.”

“Thanks, Morgan.”

“Now get out, I’ve got work to do.”

He turned and left shaking his head. Whistling as he headed back to the cabin to check in on his elf before lunch. However, he was stopped by shouting on the deck, as the sailors ran about in a panic. He looked up to see an elf he recognized as one of Iorveth’s. He had climbed up the rope and was currently on top of the mast. He wasn’t being aggressive, he was kinda just there. He sighed and continued back to the cabin. Iorveth’s man, Iorveth’s problem.

“Iorveth, do you know anything about an elf in plate armor, and a tri-cornered hat, with a Skellieger battle ax strapped to his back?” He asked the face down elf, who let out a tired groan. 

“Not even five” he mumbled to himself.

“Any chance you can talk him down the mast?”

Iorveth tilted his head, “What will you do once he’s down.”

“Drag him to Captain Morgan to a talking to, after that depends on him. He can stay with you here, or he can report to your men that you're not being tortured.” 

Iorveth ran his hand down his face. “He’s already done that, I’ve already sent him away twice, but apparently this has” he paused, considering his words “Upset, my second in command, and Morlais has decided to pester me, rather than face his mood. ” 

“So yes or no to talking him down,” he asked.

“Fine, I wish to scold him as well” he held out his hands for the ropes.  
\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“What do you think you’re doing!” Iorveth barely noticed the sailor’s attention switching to him, stopping their attempts to get the crazy elf down, “Does this look like leaving to you?” What was this idiot doing?

“This idiot yours?” A dh’oine with black hair, with two flat buns against her ears, and the rest of her hair braided tightly against her nape, a dark brown tri-cornered hat with blue trim atop her head approached him. She had brown eyes, her face was covered in freckles, and had a small scar on her chin. She also wore a white shirt, with a lighter brown coat with a blue bandana at her throat. 

“Unfortunately yes, he is mine.” He paused fishing for a name

She snorted. “Captain Morgan of Dorian, at your service, this is my boat you two idiots are on.” He was amused to see she wasn’t really paying much attention to him, instead watching Morlais who had left the mast and was jumping around the rigging. 

“He know a ship well? Could use a guy who can move like that.”

Iorveth snorted, “You could say that, he was raised as a Skelliger pirate before joining my men.”

“Think he’d be interested in some temp work? Under the table of course.” He looked at Roche, unsure of this human. Roche nodded to Iorveth.

“I have no issues with this.” he tilted his head, “the worst work at first?”

“Oh, of course,” she smirked.

Iorveth let out a whistle calling to Morlais to come down, now. 

He sheepishly began descending the rigging, jumping down in front of them.

“Your boss said you know ships.”

Morlais looked quizidly at Iorveth, who shrugged and nodded. He snapped a perfect salute, “Yes ma’am”

“Good, you're coming with me. You’ll be working under me for a bit.”

Morlais smirked while raising his eyebrow, “Oh?”

“Impress me first boy.” She turned and motioned for him to follow, and after checking with Iorveth again, followed her.

“Well, that happened,” Roche stated. “Do you want to go with me to check on the laundry?”

Iorveth considered this “Why not.”


	4. Questions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So... Why are you being nice to me?

The good news was that the laundry was dry. But all the staring from the humans around him was making Iorveth twitchy. Thankfully they retreated back to their cabin after that. “And to think this day isn’t even half over. I’m gonna take a nap.” He set the clothes down and untied Iorveth. Before laying back down on the couch that he was using as a bed. 

Iorveth wasn’t sure what to think of this. Why was Roche so comfortable sleeping with him in the room? Why was he comfortable sleeping with Roche in the room? Why did Roche try to help him during his nightmare? And why did he invite him to stay? Why did he take Roche’s word that Morlais would be safe? Why...

His head was spinning with unanswered questions. He knew he should be focusing on the upcoming treaty, but he could only focus on Roche. Was Morlais right? Did he want to... He cut himself off. That can’t be right. He’s a ... He looked at the sleeping dh’oine just feet from him. (Why didn’t he feel the urge to kill him?) and considered him.

He was definitely a dh’oine, even with his ears covered by that stupid chaperon he couldn’t pretend otherwise. He couldn’t see much of his body, (did he want to?), but he was stocky and covered in hair, from the ones he could see on his face, to the ones he could see on the flash of skin on his arm. 

Roche was ruthless, merciless in battle, a monster of a dh’oine, proof they could not be trusted, and yet. He stopped. Roche had been nothing but kind to him on this trip. It’s as if as soon as his king told him to stop hating him, he did. The same dh’oine who had murdered so many of his people, and had led the "pacification" of Mahakam, took notice of his discomfort around dh’oine, and tried to limit his touch, gave him clothes of his own people, he turned his face whenever he was unclothed unlike how many other dh’oines acted around elves. It could just be his scars, he knew how he looked, but... Something nagged at the back of his head. 

His thoughts were a mess, he couldn’t focus. As he began to pace he continued to consider Roche. He had proven his match in more ways than one. His match in battle, to the point he judged other opponents to him, and found them wanting. He was a very intelligent strategist, who would match his own admitted morals, or lack thereof. If he would sink lower so would Roche. He was an excellent leader, that was clear, his men were loyal to the death, and quite perceptive, able to sniff out his men’s traps. Brave, determined, loyal to his king and Temeria at all costs, stubborn. Whatever he did Roche could match it. Not a matching piece, but a twisted mirror, a distorted image of the same thing. For as much as he studied Roche, he also knew himself.

He walked over to their clothes and folded them, sticking his in his bag, and after hesitating for a moment, placed Roche’s in his bag. He then walked over to his bed. Iorveth wished he had some privacy. He could do with some “relaxation”. He considered Roche, and whether or not he would wake up. Better not chance it. Before he knew it he too was falling asleep, his mind quieting for now.  
\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Roche woke up starving. He quickly realized that he had slept through lunch. He got up stretching and let out a yawn. Looking around he found Iorveth out cold on the bed. Good he still looked like he needed it.

He wasn't sure why he was so concerned about the elf. It was only days ago they were trying to kill each other. But as soon as Foltest told him to stop he did, and now they were sleeping in the same room, seemingly unafraid.

It's not like he hadn't respected Iorveth before. The elf was a damn good commander and strategist. Nor did he think he would kill him. Unless this treaty went tits up. Hopefully, since both parties had a lot to lose if it went sour, it would go smooth.

He decided to go grab them both food, probably leftover stew from last night. Knocking on the door he leaves heading to the mess. He spots one of Morgan's men, the same one who had been yelling at him earlier, scrubbing the deck with a black eye. He raised a brow.

"put your back into it Conway, what do you think you're doing. I want your area so clean you could eat off it." The man glares at her but says nothing.

"Having fun?" He asks, bemused. "Thought you were gonna put Iorveth's man to work doing this."

"I did at first, but," she side-eyes her man, "apparently this idiot was getting too big for his breeches. Found his ass hassling the dang Spider-monkey, purposely making the deck dirtier." She shrugged. "So I sent the Spider-monkey to the cook to help instead, and put this idiot to work cleaning. Which reminds me, do you mind him bunking with you? I don't trust all my men to behave right now?" 

"I run it by Iorveth but I don't have an issue, can't see him turning one of his own men away either."

She nods. "Go get your food. Send a message if there's an issue."

He nods and continues on his way. Thinking about the fact that he's just agreed to sleep alongside another Scoia'tael. It doesn't bother him though. The Scoia'teal were a threat now yes, but not if this treaty went through, and everything he's seen so far has pointed to Iorveth wanting this treaty rather badly.

He took two bowls from the Morlais nodding at a surprised and curious elf. The cook to his amusement was keeping a close eye on them, though if he'd have to guess the elf was the one he was protecting. "Your an interesting one dh'oine" the elf murmured.

“Thank-you?”

Morlais snorted, and turned away to continue helping the cook. Roche left and walked back to the room. Iorveth was still out cold. “Hey Iorveth? Got food.” He placed the bowl on the dresser next to the bed. “Elf?” 

A soft murmur was his only response as Iorveth shifted on the bed. He yawned, and Roche got to see all his teeth. The elf looked blearily up at him. “Wha?” 

“Food elf,” he offered. Iorveth grunted, and pushed himself up, stretching like a cat. Turning over he grabbed his stew and began to eat.

“So, umm, Morgan asked if Morlais can stay with us, she’s not sure if she can guarantee his safety with the other men.”

“That’s fine,” Iorveth shrugged.

“Didn’t think that would be an issue, are you okay with him sleeping on the bed with you?"

Iorveth shrugged. "Not many other sleeping places in here."

"True," he put his bowl to the side. Iorveth was just looking out the window not really paying attention to anything. 

"Iorveth?" 

He turned to look him dead in the eye. "Why are you pretending to be nice?"

"What?"

"All of" he waves his hands around. "You're being... nice?" He looks lost. 

"Yes? We're not fighting right now, and might not be later, you want the treaty after all." He shrugs not sure what to say. 

"But why?"

"Why not."

"You're the head of Temeria's" he wrinkles his nose. "Non-human affairs, why would you be nice to an elf?”

“I,” he paused frowning, collecting his thoughts, "I never hunted your elves because they were elves, but because you were a threat to Termaria."

"But who are you to say who is Termarian? I lived here long before you Dh'oine ever made it to the continent."

Roche sat stunned. "Wait how old are you, I thought..." He trailed off.

"You thought that I was a young elf, like most of the Scoia'teal." He looked sad.  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
“Yes, but, umm” He shook his head. "Elves, umm, why wouldn't I? If you're not a threat anymore, why should I react like you're one? If you're not a threat, then you're just a person."

"Not many dh'oine who would think so."

"I grew up in the slums, and well, with my mom, got tired of people treating me like I was less cause of it. I know how easily it could be to abuse my position so I try to be hands-off about the whole thing."

"Hands off? With my people being raped and murdered in the streets."

"You think I don't know that? I grew up amongst you, cause guess where most of the non-humans are? I watched my neighbors be murdered with nothing done, I fucking found one of the bodies, Lilac did not deserve her death! But I can't openly support you, not without the king's direct approval. I have done some things, argued against laws, argued against burning down that damned forest you live in to get to you, and my men know I won't put up with them acting like animals about it. But I can't do more right now."

"Not without ruining your precious reputation." Iorveth sneered, walking over to him and getting in his face.

"Not without being hunted down as well," Roche replied bluntly, meeting his glare. "It would be a suicide run for me. This treaty means the king can approve of that stuff can finally start getting fixed, I want this, I know we have a long way to go for human non-human relations, but this can be a start."

"You can start by not calling us non-humans, we each have our own names. You don't see us elves calling other species as non-elves, do you?"

Roche opened his mouth and closed it, and softly replied "I never considered that before, thank-you." 

Iorveth blinked and leaned in closer and Roche noticed the olive green of his eye, right before he felt Iorveth's lips on his. Roche's hand reached up and stroked his elf's hair, brushing against the point of his ear, causing a moan to come out of Iorveth's mouth. He climbed into his lap, slipping his hands into past Roche's chaperon and sunk them into his hair, tugging on it. Roche growled and bit Iorveth's mouth, feeling his pants tighten, when a knock came from the door.

Iorveth flinched and scrambled off of him fleeing back to the bed. His mind spinning he called "come in."

An elven head poked in eyes widening as he looked between the two of them. "Should I come back later?"


	5. Stolen Breakfast and Little Dh'oines

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Morlais is sneaky, Iorveth was sneaky, and little dh'ione know how to get into places they are not supposed to be.

Iorveth froze mind racing. "Morlais!"

"Evening Commander," He smirked and switched to Elder, "serious though if you're getting somewhere with your human, I can hang around the deck and watch the stars for a bit."

"Or get closer to Captain Morgan?" He shot back. Now it was Morlais' turn to blush.

"Ummmm?" They turned to the dh'oine on the couch. "Do you want me to step out?"

Iorveth switched back to Common Nordling "No, everyone can stay here. Morlais stop hanging out in the doorway and come in the room proper."

"Don't think I've ever been proper like in my life. Even on my wedding day, Fearchar was fusing about my manners."

"You're married?" Roche asked.

"Was. He and our crew were hung by the Cidaris Navy. Why I joined up with Iorveth."

"I'm, ahh, sorry."

"His blood's not on your hands." Morlais shrugged clearly not wanting to talk about it.  
He did however come fully into the room.

Wandering over to the bed he flopped down on the opposite side of Iorveth, ignoring the awkward atmosphere of the room. It apparently didn’t take him long to fall asleep, since he was out like a light within moments. Iorveth rolled his eyes tugging the blanket up over him, before deciding to settle down as well. He heard the dh’oine chuckling, but decided to ignore it.

Roche watched the two elves sleeping, with a small sad smile on his face. He couldn't quite place the feeling he had watching Iorveth curl up into his friend's side. He ignored it stretching out, laying down on the couch. They should be landing at the castle sometime come morning. He closed his eyes and slowly drifted off.

He woke to the sound of a flute. Blinking his eyes open he saw Iorveth and Morlais sitting on the bed. Morlais was helping Iorveth braid his hair, while his braid was already done. He felt that feeling from last night as he sat up transfixed by the music, as well as how the early morning light lit his elf's face.

There was a knock at the door that the two elves ignored, so he got up walking over to open it. "What do you want Conway?"

"Captain Morgan sent me with breakfast. She says she wants the new elf" he spat the word, "to come to her office within a bell for work."

He shoved three bowls into Roche's hand before turning around and stomping off. Roche could almost notice smoke coming from his ears. He turned around and blinked as he noticed the two elves were staring at him warily. He blinks at them holding up the bowl of oatmeal with wild berries in it, a spoon in each one. The two elves seem interested, but still wary. “What?”

“You trust him?”

Roche considered this “No, but I trust his fear of my reputation, or of the hangman’s noose, is greater than his dislike of us.” 

Iorveth stared at him “If you are poisoned, alone with two Scoia’tael, who do you think will be put to blame?”

“Would you like to eat first? With Morlais as a witness to your men that I did not poison you?”

He turned to Morlais, and blinked, breaking out into laughter as he had already eaten all of his food and was trying to sneakily grab Iorveth’s bowl. Iorveth let out an indignant sound and scrambled back Morlais following. He ran over to the pole in the middle of the room and scaled it like he would a tree, holding his bowl up to the ceiling, shouting at his man in his own tongue. Roche had tears rolling down his face, hiccuping from laughter. 

“I think it’s safe to eat” he manages to say between bursts of laughter. This draws Morlais’ attention to him and he decides that Roche’s breakfast is a better target. Roche decides that humans are better off to go low rather than high and crawls under the couch with his food, curling onto his side putting his body between him and the still hungry elf. The berries are actually pretty good.

Morlais pouted for a bit, but eventually left to see the Captain, and Iorveth slid himself down the pole and was able to eat his food, eyeing Roche as he wiggled out of his hiding spot. The dh'oine stretches shaking his head and sits to read for a bit.

Before long they feel the boat come to a stop. Iorveth’s eye peeks outside as Roche stood up gathering some of his things in his bag, as well as his clothes. “Unfortunately unless you're willing to be bound again, you’re gonna be staying on the ship. I need to pass a message to the lady of the castle, so I’ll be getting off for a little bit. I'm gonna hand the laundry off to a woman I know that runs a laundry service, and knows when to keep her mouth shut. I’ll also be stopping at the market, want anything there?”

“I have no coin,” he replies slowly.

“I can spot you for now.”

Iorveth shrugged, seemingly uninterested in the conversation.

"Ah, okay... So someone should be coming over with your lunch, and I should be back by dinner, but if not someone will be dropping off that as well. Uhh, have fun?" Iorveth gave him an unamused look as he left, before turning back to the window.  
\----------------------------  
Iorveth rolled his eye. Dh'oine. He sighed, rubbing his forehead, thoughts still racing, and considered the recorder in his bag. He shrugged and pulled it out deciding to lose himself in song. Seating himself back on the bed, he closed his eye and began to play.  
\-----------------------------  
Roche was quite frustrated as he left La Valette castle. Lady La Valette had wanted him to take all three of his kids with him when he left. He barely managed to talk her out of it. 

He stomped into the market and took a deep breath trying to calm himself. He walked down the rows. 

Looking in the stalls he grabbed the things he needed, some soap and herbs for food, nothing important, when he spotted something out of the corner of his eye. Sheet music. Absently he walked over. Sheet music with elvish scribbles on it. Huh. 

"What's this?" He asked the old man half asleep on the bench behind the stall. 

"Music sheet." The old man didn't even open his eyes.

Roche snorted, "For what?"

"Recorder."

"Hmmm," he knew Iorveth played one. This could give the elf something to do while being locked up in the room. "Got one of those too?"

"Nope, sold out 'bout a hour ago." 

He could always look elsewhere. "How much?"

After paying he continued on, unfortunately he couldn't find a recorder. Well maybe in Vizima. The elf would probably be locked in his room there too, so it wouldn't be a waste at least. Stopping by his contact at the laundry service, he grabbed his laundry and some information. He paid for both and headed back to the boat.  
\---------------  
Iorveth pulled away from the music abruptly, his eye shooting open. He blinked. And then blinked again. Why were there two little dh'oine in the room?

The baby dh'oine clapped at him seemingly pleased. He raised his brow "And who are you?"

The dh'oine with shorter hair looked at the dh'oine with longer hair, who piped up, "I'm Anais, and this is my brother Boussy. Mama said we were supposed to go to Uncle Roche's boat so we can go to see Papa for a bit."

"And why are you in my room? Who let you in?" 

"We asked the mean man where Uncle Roche was and he said Uncle Roche was staying here."

"And the guard?"

The little dh'ione tilted her head. "What guard? Can you play more music? It sounded pretty!"

Iorveth rubbed his face, "just until 'Uncle' Roche gets back, and only if you're quiet."

The little dh'oine cheered.  
\--------------  
Roche started to board the boat when he paused and shook his head. "Crafty fox" he muttered wondering how he had gotten his recorder, probably from the other elf. He nods to Captain Morgan who waves him over, standing next to, well shit. "Ari what are you doing here?" The boy seemed surprised.

"Mother didn't tell you?"

"Lady La Valette asked," he emphasized the word, "me if I could bring your siblings to the capital, I declined due to the nature of this mission."

Ari closed his eyes and breathed a wordless swear, "Mother said you had agreed. Anise and Boussy are both aboard and I don't know where. They ran off." 

"Well fuck, let me put the laundry in my cabin and I'll help look for them, hopefully they're not there."

Ari frowned and followed him there stopping when Roche put his hand up. "Don't look inside, do you understand?"

"Yes, sir."

Roche looked around for the guard, his face growing stormy at his absence. He opened the door and groaned seeing the two missing children. "Anise, Boussy, what are you two doing here?" 

The two children jump up as Iorveth stops playing. "Uncle Roche!" Anise squealed running over to give him a hug. "The nice elf let us listen to his music." Roche noticed a bit amused that Iorveth had covered his ears during the squeal.

At the word elf, Ari yelped and came running in stopping cold, and going ghost white, at the sight of Termarian's most wanted criminal in the same room as his siblings, and faints. Roche grabbed him before he hit the ground and sighed as he laid on the couch, as the two children stood there baffled, whispering to themselves, and Iorveth looked resigned.

"Well looks like you three are coming with us anyways." He mutters to himself, shaking his head. The children cheered, and Ari began to stir from the bed.  
\--------------  
The eldest of the three young dh'oine began shouting about treason as soon as he fully awoke, and Roche had to snap back that if the king commands him to bring him a wanted terrorist alive to treat with, then how is doing so treason. This seemed to stun the dh'oine, who was still unhappy, and now Roche was as well. 

The children at least seemed more curious than anything, asking questions, all seemed genuinely curious though unknown to the quite insulting. He let out a yelp of his own when Boussy went for his ears, and covered them with his hand.

"Boussy ears are a 'no touch' spot for elves." The child pulled his hand back embarrassed.

"Sorry."

Iorveth shrugged, "you did not know."

"I will be speaking to my mother on this, and we will see about this, this, this treaty nonsense."

Roche pinched his nose "Look Ari, you have three choices. One, you crash in here, with your siblings, Iorveth, another elf, and I. Two, you sleep with the crew, with the rest of us in here. Or three, I throw you in the brig. When we get to Vizima you can complain to King Foltest about his policies."

The boy sputtered, turning away clearly unhappy. "I will stay here, someone needs to keep an eye on you apparently."

Roche rolled his eyes. "Right, you know what, throwing all of you at Foltest as soon as we arrive. He's earned it."

Iorveth snorted. Ari jumped about a foot in the air. This caused Roche to sigh. "I'll go see about getting at least another cot in here." 

Morlais raised his hand. "I can stay with the crew?"

Ari yelped again. Iorveth sighed, laying back on the bed. "Get over yourself dh'oine."

"What's dh'ione?" Boussy asked.

"It's human in Hen Llinge, though you call it Elder." Morlais offered. "We're Aen Seidhe, the people of the hill, and you call us elves. You're humans and we call you Aen Dh'oine, or well now mostly just dh'oine, the people of the earth."

"Why?" asked Anais.

"Well I'm not old enough to have been around back then but from what I was told we saw that you worked the earth, purposely planting and growing plants, and this was new to us, we had only ever taken what the earth had given us before, so I guess it stood out." He shrugged. 

"Weird." Anais scrunched her nose, losing interest in the story. 

"But why are elves of the hills?" asked Boussy quietly.

"Even our elders don't remember why, it's been lost to history, if it was written down, well we have no more great libraries to check," Iorveth replied, staring at the ceiling.

"Why not?" The adults all winced.

"Ask your brother."

Boussy and Anais turned towards Ari, who seemed quite uncomfortable with the topic.

Roche gave a fake cough, "why don't Ari and I go get those cots, Morlais if you want to stay elsewhere that's fine, if you feel unsafe head back here, and stay on the ship when we get to the port."

Iorveth rolled his eyes as he watched Morlais give Roche an overdramatic salute before leaving. 

Roche then pushed Ari out the door "Cots."

The two children stared at Iorveth, who blinked at them.  
\---  
Roche knocked on the door of Captain Morgan's cabin as he held a death grip on Ari. 

"Captain Morgan? Found them, they figured out the secret though so it looks like they're coming with us. I'll have to have a talk with Lady La Valette later about this. In the meantime, do you have any cots we can borrow?"

Morgan came to the door wearing a bathrobe, hair undone in disarray. Roche blinked. "Sorry, were you sleeping?" 

She snorted "No, not yet. Morlais told me of our newest passengers. Found two cots for you, but they're kid-sized. Don't have any other extras."

"What! This is an outrage! Do you expect Noble children to sleep on cots?" Ari erupted. 

"Another word out of you and you can stay the night in the brig. Perhaps next time your Lady mother could properly arrange her children's travel plans, rather than stowing them away." She turned to Roche. "Got the cots right inside let me grab them."

"How dare you!" 

"Ari shut it."

Morgan snorted and went back into her room as she did Roche caught a quick glimpse of Morlais, naked, with his hands bound to the bed frame. Well, at least the idiot was safe.

Morgan came back with the two cots and shoved them at him. "You know where the brig is if he keeps up his attitude problem. Conway is already down there for abandoning his post. I sent Roland over for guard duty instead" and with that, she firmly shut the door.  
\-----  
As they walked back to the cabin, grabbing the two cots, Ari was not happy with the situation. He and his siblings would be staying in a locked room with that, that crazed murderer. He did not trust those elves for one moment, what was his king thinking?

They return to the cabin and this time there is a guard, which would help no one inside the cabin if the elf decided to kill them. He jumped as he heard the elf began playing his recorder again. Uncle Roche, the traitor, just chuckles and pushes the door open.

He lets out a low pained moan as he is pushed inside, his siblings have climbed up on the bed and were practically on top of the elf. He was playing his instrument to the children's obvious delight. 

Uncle Roche set down the cot that he was holding and began setting it up, he then took the cot Ari was holding and set that one up as well. The elf's song slowly ended and his siblings clapped. Uncle Roche chuckled again and all three on the bed looked up blinking. 

"Only cots we could find were the little ones."

"Just like the sailors use?" asked Anais suspiciously. 

"Yup," Uncle Roche confirmed.

The two children whispered to each other, cupping their hands around their mouths. The elf looked down at them, seemingly amused, ears twitching listening, as they leaned over him to talk. Uncle Roche got a soft look on his face when he saw that, though he wasn't sure what to make of that.

The children seemed to come to an agreement though as they turned to the adults all bright smiles and declared they would love to sleep on the cots, cause this was an adventure, and don't you know Sir Lourens from their book had to use them when he went on a sea adventure, and isn't he the coolest?

Ari nodded along exhausted and coaxed them away from the Scoia'teal on the bed, just because he wasn't showing any signs of attack now, doesn't mean he won't later. 

From the kid's yawn, it was probably about their bedtime anyways. It didn't take much to get them into bed, then he retreated to the couch and sighed as he settled down trying to keep one eye open for as long as possible to watch over his siblings.  
\---  
Iorveth shifted on the bed, eyes fixed on the little dh'oines, trying to remember the last time he had been so close to a child of any species. Especially ones that were not afraid of him. 

He jumped, head whipping around when the bed dipped under him. Roche changed into his nightclothes while he was distracted, (and he quietly pushed away the disappointed feeling inside him at the thought), and was now sitting on the bed giving him a sheepish look.

"Is it okay if we share for the night? My bed has been sadly stolen."

"Not many other spots for you dh'oine." Iorveth shifted, considering the idea.

Roche shrugged "could always sleep on the floor, or the desk chair. Slept in worse spots, wouldn't be an issue."

Iorveth grumbled and rolled his eye, "no sense in that, bed fit two last night, it can fit two tonight. Besides I am pretty sure the jumpy dh'oine thinks I'm going to go crazy and murder everyone in their sleep, so keeping a person, not a child, between us seems smart. I'll take the spot closer to the window." He absently waved a hand, brushing the matter off.

Iorveth got up grabbing his clothes from the laundry pile, keeping one eye on the jumpy dh'oine on the couch. He turned toward the corner of the room and quickly stripped, changing into his nightclothes, pausing considering before deciding to leave his bandana on. He then crawled onto his claimed half of the bed.

"Night dh'oine," he muttered, closing his eye.

"Night elf," replied Roche blowing out the candle by the bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ari La Valette is Aryan La Valette. I wasn't comfortable using that name though...


	6. Arrival at the castle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We have made it to Vizima!!!!  
> Warning my oc Conway is sexually creepy to Iorveth in this chapter it starts at "He shook his head wanting to ignore it." and ends at "Douglas walked up to Conway"

Morlais nodded at Roland and Muirgen at the door as they were changing shift. Pushing the door open, he quietly walked over to the bed past the sleeping children. 

Morlais had to bite back a snicker when he spotted that Iorveth had snuggled into Roche's chest in his sleep, and Roche had his arms around him holding him tight. Morlais felt bad for needing to wake them.

"Iorveth? Roche?" The two men startled awake freezing when they realized their position. Awkwardly untangling themselves from each other, he watched them blush as they sat up. 

Roche cleared his throat, "yes Morlais?"

"We've arrived at Vizima's royal quarter. We're heading to the Royal castle to dock. Figured everyone would want to be up, dressed and have fed themselves before meeting your king."

"Thank-you. Would you be willing to grab our breakfast?"

"Sure, I'll be back in a moment." He turned towards the door, sneaking out.  
\-----  
Roche yawned, stretching as he stood up. He let out a sharp whistle. "Attention!" This woke the three kids. He also spotted Iorveth covering his ears, glaring at him annoyed. Oops.

Ari groaned and his head under his arms. "Uncle Roche." 

Boussy and Anaïs on the other hand quickly stood up, and gave him their idea of a soldier's salute, giggling all the while.

"Alright, everyone up? We're about at the castle, Morlais is grabbing food. Please tell me your mom sent extra clothes along?"

The two younger kids nodded and Ari got up grumbling about morning people as he grabbed a bag, pulling out clothes. Then looked between the two adults in the room. 

Shifting side to side he asked. "Um... Would you two be willing to step out? I don't think we should all change together. I, nothing against you Uncle Roche but..." He awkwardly glanced at Iorveth.

Roche sighed, "That's fair, do you want to go first?"

Ari nodded looking at the ground. Boussy and Anaïs looked confused. "Why can't they just look away like you do when we're travelling?" Ari did not answer them.

Roche looked over at Iorveth who replied, "it is fine, your brother is concerned because I am a stranger to you and to him. Your Uncle Roche and I will stand right outside, and them we will switch and perhaps you can see how many other boats you can spot."

That distracted the two children who started talking to each other about other ships. Meanwhile Iorveth sighed and held out his hands to Roche to be bound again.

Roche quietly grabbed the rope and bound Iorveth's arms gently, absently stroking Iorveth's inner wrist. Iorveth shivered, biting his lip. 

Roche blushed and quickly tied the ropes to Iorveth's ankles too. He then helped Iorveth stand up from the bed, and they left.  
\---  
Iorveth was not comfortable with being out of the cabin in only a nightshirt. He fidgeted with his collar, as he stood next to Roche, who was also in a nightshirt, though he side-eyed the dh'oine, who seemed perfectly fine with the other dh'oine staring at them. 

There was one idiot dh'oine in particular who had been staring for a while. He had dirty brown hair, bushy eyebrows, and a ring threw the septum of his nose, similar to the one Morlais had. Though he thinks Morlais' ring was fancier.

He didn't like the way that dh'oine was staring at him, he shifted towards Roche, causing him to turn and look at him confused.

He shook his head wanting to ignore it. Unfortunately the strange dh'oine didn't want to let it go. A sharp laughing whistle pierced the air, and he jerked his head, swearing, unable to cover his ears. What reason did dh'oine have for being so fucking loud?

Roche moved towards the other dh'oine scowling, "Conway what the fuck do you think you're doing? Fuck off!"

"What? Come on you can't just keep him to yourself. I wanna taste." He leered at Iorveth, and it clicked what the dh'oine was talking about. He turned red.

"Filthy dh'ione! Try it and I'll tear your throat out." He bared his teeth and tried to lunge for him, but Roche held the rope tight. The dh'oine still jumped back. 

"Conway you fuckwad, what the fuck are you doing." Another dh'oine approached them scowling. A large scruffy blond bearded man, with a gold hoop hanging from his ear, and silver key on a leather string around his neck.

"Ah, fuck off Douglas you never let me have any fun."

The man set some bowls down on a nearby crate. "You leave them alone or I'll tan your hide, turn you over to the Captain, and then I'll let him and his men take their turn with your hide, ya hear me? Get back to work and stop harnessing folk."

Conway spat on the ground "Fucking elf fucker, he paying ya, or," and he smirked wiggling his eyebrows, "you know paying ya? You getting it good for your protection?"

Iorveth snarled but stepped back, Roche still firmly holding the rope, though Iorveth still quite furious at this, this, this dh'oine, he was curious enough to watch this play out.

Douglas walked up to Conway and punched him out cold. He then simply walked away picking up the two bowls he had been carrying and approached Iorveth and Roche calmly, though some of his anger still showed in his eyes.

"Sorry about that. I'll let the Captain know about what he's been up to. She's been trying to beat some sense into his sorry ass since he joined up, hasn't done much. He bothers you again let me know." He then hands them their breakfast and leaves. 

Morlais comes around the corner a moment later with three more bowls, two of them with less food in them. "I saw nothing. The weddin done yet?"

Roche snorted, "Douglas took care of the idiot, and no, they're still in there. Hopefully they'll be done soon."

Morlais nods and leans against the door frame and waits, whistling an old sailing tune as he watches the water accompanied by the sound of Conway waking. One look though from the unbound Scoia'teal, and he slunk off, muttering to himself, the three men ignored him.  
\-----  
The door opened and Roche watched the three kids come out, fully dressed for the day.

"Your turn," shouted Anaïs, bouncing up and down in her blue dress. He noticed that Boussy, hiding behind Ari, was staring at Iorveth's bound hands confused.

Roche smiled at them ruffling Boussy's hair as he led Iorveth into the room closing the door behind them. 

"I'm sorry about that."

"Not your fault Roche. Fools will be fools."

"Still what he said was unacceptable."

Iorveth shrugged, "I've heard worse."

"So have I, doesn't mean it's right."

"You?" Iorveth sounds disbelieving.

"Come on, my past is pretty common knowledge."

He then sighed and tossed his nightshirt off, before turning to Iorveth who was blankly staring at him. 

"About what your mother did?"

Roche snorted, "And what I did."

Iorveth looks surprised.

"You do what you need to to survive, whoring, fighting, stealing. Whatever puts food in your mouth."

Iorveth looks at him understanding, and nods his head. He almost thought he saw a blush as the elf looked at him, eye seeming to drift downward. He quickly stepped forward, and untied the elf's hands and feet to let him change too, before turning and began changing into the uniform he had cleaned yesterday.

He turned back around and saw that Iorveth had almost finished, and was adjusting the scarf draped over his shoulders that went with the sea green robes. His bandana was off, with his hair unbound, loose around his head, as he held his clean bandana between his lips. 

"Ah, Do you want help with your hair? I'm probably not as good as Morlais, but if you want an extra set of hands..." Roche shrugged. 

This time Iorveth was definitely blushing, "ah, no, can you hand me my comb though." Roche did and Iorveth turned away and began combing his hair, humming quietly to himself. Roche watched his hands as they deftly braided his hair and covered everything with the bandana. 

Iorveth turned to him, still blushing, and held out his hands as he was bound again. After tying his hands and feet, he took the rope and went back outside.  
\---  
Boussy was confused by what was going on. He didn't understand why Uncle Roche's friend had his hands tied together, and while he hadn't seemed unhappy about it back at the boat, he was now very tense, and was sticking very close to Uncle Roche, staying on his right side, and twitching whenever Ari was on that side. Uncle Roche placed his hand on his shoulder, and muttered something in his ear. His ear twitched, but he breathed and seemed at least a little calmer.

Boussy looked around at the stone walls around them, as they passed through the familiar passage into the castle from the Royal Port. He let his hand drag along the wall, focusing on the texture as he walked down the hall.

He was really excited to see his Papa again, even if he has to call Papa King Foltest in front of others. He also didn't understand why, but Mama said it was very important. He didn't really care.

Boussy kicked a rock and watched it fly down the hallway. They passed into the castle proper and the servants spotted them quieted, eyes wide. A lot of them either flattened themselves against the wall or moved very quickly away from them.

Uncle Roche's Elf friend shifted, holding his head high, seemingly ignoring everyone around him. Boussy watched him walk down the hall remembering how the large cats he had seen in the menagerie moved. He seemed really cool.

They arrived at Papa's throne room, and Uncle Roche told the herald that they were here to see Papa but they seemed to be stuck staring at Uncle Roche's friend. This seemed to annoy uncle Roche who pointedly cleared his throat.

The herald jumped and nodded quickly, rushing into the throne room. Boussy could hear them announcing them as Uncle Roche entered the room first alongside his friend. Ari directed them to go next, with him closing behind.


	7. Treaty time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We meet Foltest, make a treaty, and the boys get a little drunk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is a panic attack in this chapter starting with -
> 
> Iorveth jumped up from his seat snarling. "You what?"
> 
> and ending with-
> 
> Iorveth shook his head exhausted.

Iorveth took a breath as he entered the throne room. The dh'oine king was sitting on his throne at the end of the hall. He held his head high as he approached the throne but when they arrived in front of the throne, he bowed alongside Roche.

He could hear whispering amongst the guards behind him, as he held his pose firmly. 

"Rise, and be welcome, The Honorable Ari La Valette, The Honorable Boussy La Valette, The Honorable Anaïs La Valette, Commander Vernon Roche of the Blue stripes, and Mhenadur Iorveth of the Scoia'teal." Iorveth blinked in surprise at hearing his proper title. The dh'oine king rose and announced, "Guards leave us." He waved his hands, and the guards saluted and left.

After the guards were gone, the dh'oine king rose and began to approach them heading down the left-hand side of the stairs and the young twins broke rank with a cry of "Papa!" The dh'oine king reacted like any normal father, purposely overacting when the children crashed into him, pretending that they nearly knocked him over. He laughed and picked little Anaïs up on one side as she started babbling about what they had seen on their trip. A look passed between the dh'oine king and Roche.

The dh'oine king spoke to his children, "I need to speak to your Uncle Roche and his friend but after that, I can spend some time with you. Do you want to go ahead to the Royal quarters and wait for me there? There is going to be a bit of boring adult talk for a bit."

Boussy wrinkled his nose and Anaïs frowned, clinging to her father, but both of them nodded. "Ari do you remember the way there." 

The older child nodded "Yes sir." 

Foltest ruffled his hair. "Alright then, head along, I will be there shortly." 

He sets Anaïs down and the children giggle as they race towards a side door, that Iorveth guesses lead to Foltest's rooms.

As the door closed behind them, Foltest turned back to Iorveth and Roche, a single eyebrow raised. "Now then let us head to a meeting room for this, no use standing around."

He met Iorveth's eye. "I trust that if I have you untied, that you will not do anything foolish?"

Iorveth stared right back for a moment before nodding. "If you do not do anything foolish, neither will I. So long as I am not attacked, I will not attack you, so long as I am a guest in your home."

Foltest grimly nodded. "Then I shall welcome you as a guest in my home. Roche untie him."

Roche nodded and moved to do so, unbinding his hands before kneeling to untie his feet. A look of amusement crossed the king's face as he did so.  
\-----  
Roche looked back and forth between his king and Iorveth. So far so good, he guessed. 

He followed Foltest as he led them to a door on the other side of the room. Iorveth walked side by side with him down the small passageway to the closest treaty room.

They entered the room and sat down on the tall chairs across from each other. 

"So, Iorveth. While you seem interested in this treaty, will the rest of the Scoia'teal follow your lead?"

"It will depend on what is decided here. However, I am the only Scoia'teal Mhenadur within your borders. In the end, all Termarian Scoia'teal will listen to me or leave if they do not agree. This is my territory."

Foltest snorted "I rather think it's mine, but that is good. Down to business."

Roche pulled out a piece of paper, and picked one of the feather pens up ready to write.

"Now," his king started, "I know very well what I want from this treaty. Nilfgaard is coming, and I do not want to waste time or manpower on your men. I propose that this treaty will last until the end of the upcoming conflict, if either of us wish to renegotiate or dissolve the treaty, it will be done then."

"Agreed, as long as we can come to an agreement on terms."

Roche noted this all down. This wasn't his favorite job, but considering the top secret nature of this treaty, he could do the rough draft, and let the actual scribes pretty it up later.

"Then onto terms." Foltest began, "I want to keep my people safe from yours."

"Funny my words are the same."

"Are you willing to at least stay out of the coming war."

"Yes. I have no interest in dh'oine wars."

"So then you would be unwilling to aid us."

"As of right now I have no reason to. If, If, you begin to treat my people fairly, then that might change, but I want to see proof that you are willing to follow through on your end."

"So if we are willing to keep to the treaty you will fight?"

"I am saying that I am not saying no. But not now."

Foltest nods. Well, that's a start, Roche guesses.

"And what do you want in return?"

"For you to treat humans and non-humans equally. It is what I have always wanted."

"Strange way of showing it."

"Only way we have found that the dh'oine actually listen to. We've forced treaties before with it too. But the dh'oine then turn around and do not honor them."

"I see, so you do have a reason for distrust."

Iorveth's hand drifted to his missing eye. "I have seen far too much of what dh'oine are capable of to fully trust again." He shook his head. "My desires, equal rights for all peoples living in your borders regardless of species, and for that to be enforced. Otherwise," he shrugged, "It would be nice to continue living in the woods."

"Would you let some of the local populace in?" Roche snarked.

Iorveth hesitated "If they behave."

"I propose an idea." Roche frowned as his king smirked. "You said you had issues with other," he paused, "dh'oine, following through with their treaties?"

Iorveth stared at the king hesitantly, "Yes?"

"Then let us seal this treaty in the oldest of ways. I propose a marriage between you and my most loyal commander Roche. You and both your men then shall then be put in charge of making sure this treaty is followed as such."  
\----  
Iorveth jumped up from his seat snarling. "You what?"

He gripped the table's edge nearly breaking it with rage. He could faintly hear a cry of "Foltest!" from Roche, but he couldn't think clearly enough to pay attention. Had the dh'oine not taken enough? Did their greed know no bounds? He needed to move, he couldn't breathe, he... 

He pushed away from the table and began pacing back and forth feeling trapped, the room was too small now, he felt trapped in here with these dh'oine. Why had he agreed to come here? He dug his hands past his bandana tightly gripping his hair.

He could faintly hear another voice speaking. 

"Iorveth!" 

He snapped his head up, still baring his teeth, and snarled "What!"

Roche was staring at him concerned. He was holding his hands out. "Been calling your name for a while now. Please, this was not my idea. I promise you I knew nothing about this plan."

Iorveth stared at him breathing heavily, Roche didn't seem to be lying, but...

"Touch or no touch?"

"What?" It hurt his throat to talk.

"You're having a panic attack, will being touched help or make it worse? It can differ for people."

"Do not touch me dh'oine."

"Okay, is the talking helping?"

"I, yes?"

"Okay, we can keep talking."

"I still do not understand you."

"Sorry."

"Dh'oine."

"What?"

Iorveth shook his head exhausted. He sat back down in his cushioned chair at the negotiating table. Fuck.

He looked the dh'oine king dead in his eye. "What makes you think I will whore myself out for this treaty?" He asked bluntly. 

"It will show both of our people that we are serious about it. Once the war is over you may both separate if that is your wish."

"Iorveth." Roche interrupted them. "I will not touch you without your permission. The very idea of touching someone in that way against their will is sickening to me, and I've tortured people, so my morals are pretty skewed, but that, no, that is a line I will not cross. If, if we go through with this, I will not ask of you any more than you will give. This can be an only on paper marriage, and we can continue living as we were before."

He stared at Roche who was staring at him with a serious look on his face, and for some reason, he believed him. The tightness in his chest began to finally ease.

He sighed, "let's set that part aside for now. Let me think upon it."

"Very well," King Foltest agreed, and snorted. "Looks like I'll be getting an Elven Rights Bill made up. The court will be up in arms."

"Non-Human. Make it for all Non-Humans."

"Very well, The Non-Human Rights Bill," Foltest thought for a moment, "hmm, for the most part it could be just declaring that laws protecting humans also protect other sentient species. 

It can also include incentives for schools to take on non-human students, and for Masters to take on non-human apprentices. Laws against banning Non-humans from doing, being, working or living anywhere that humans can do, be, work or live. 

You'll probably need religious protection, though I'll need specifics for the official law. 

Same protections as humans in legal cases, can't be arrested just for being something else, and all judges will need to sign a paper stating that they will not judge other species unfairly.

If there comes a time that an estate is seized by the state, for such matters as treason, any property found therein, that is elven in origin, shall be returned to the elves, though we'll need to decide how that will work."

Iorveth's throat went dry and he had to swallow a few times before he could speak. He stood and bowed, "King Foltest if you can actually follow through with these promises, then I will lead my men in battle for you, I only ask that the orders go through me," he took a deep breath, "I will also go through this marriage. This is more than I could ever ask for."

"Might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb, if my nobles are going to throw a fit, might as well give them something to throw a fit about. Very well, I will have my scribe draw up a preliminary treaty, as well as one for this bill up for us. In the meantime, Roche." 

Roche shook himself and looked at his king, "Yes sir?"

"Grab the wine and there is a bag inside the first drawer, grab that too."

"Yes sir."

Roche brought back the three wine glasses that were on the table, along with a bottle of fancy wine that Iorveth didn't recognize the name of, and a blue velvet bag. He handed the bag to Foltest and then poured the wine for the three of them. 

"So, from what I have seen, elven custom around guests is that the host provides food, shelter, and protection, in return the guest behaves themself, am I correct?"

"Yes, you are," replied Iorveth not sure where this was going, Foltest was not as he expected.

"Well, you have shelter now in the castle, food will be provided for you as well, don't think we are quite at the point to give you back your weapons, though you will get them back at the treaty signing. However," He pulled out a medallion from the bag, "this will prove that you are a guest of my house, and as such in my personal protection, to any of the guards, or nobles. You will be left unbound, and free to wander at will, do not abuse this privilege. I'm not a fool, and I'm well aware that you could very easily get a hold of a weapon on your own, just keep it out of sight." He handed the medallion to Iorveth, who slipped it on.

"It's not currently on my person," he admitted, thinking of his dagger and his lucky charm. 

The king snorted, raising his glass in toast, "to new beginnings."

"To new beginnings," Iorveth and Roche replied, drinking the wine. It was quite pleasing with a smooth feel and a smokey oak flavor. Iorveth considered, mind wandering what to do next, as he sat there enjoying the wine.  
\----  
Roche laid back on his bed with a sigh, throwing his bag on the floor. Married. Fuck it all.

He needed to go down for lunch, but. He sighed and rubbed his eyes. He needed to decide what he was going to do. He hadn't protested at the time, too panicked, and Iorveth hadn't seemed too interested, to say the least, not until the end. Fuck it all Foltest, why? He needed to talk to Foltest, and, wincing, he considered he needed to talk to Iorveth, both alone.

He pushed up off the bed and straightened himself, walking out into the hallway, and knocking on Iorveth's door. Iorveth opened it, body tense.

"Do you want me to show you around? Then we can go get lunch."

"Sure, why not."

So he began to show Iorveth around. Walking him around the castle, showing him the different areas, ending up in the mess hall. 

Roche led him into the room, up to the royal table where Foltest must have ordered another chair brought up next to where he was. He took his own seat, ignoring the stares and mutterings of the nobles in the room. He wondered which one of them they were staring at. He wasn't exactly known for eating in the hall, preferring to eat in his own room.

Iorveth's eye was wide watching all the food being brought out on silver platters. Bowls of water were placed in front of them to wash their hands in, and Iorveth's attention quickly switched though as he began watching him, mimicking his own manners.

Then Foltest's cupbearer came up and tested the royal food. Once he stepped away from the table the king stood and everyone went silent.

"So you might have noticed a new face around tonight."

Some nervous giggles came from the crowd. Roche just looked up at his king blankly. 

"Iorveth is here as a guest of my house, to speak to me about a treaty between Termaria and his Scoia'teal. As we all know war is on the horizon, and a war on two fronts is no fun for anyone. So change will be on the horizon."

One of the older lords stood up, and bowing said "Your gracious majesty, may I ask the generalities of this treaty." He was watching Iorveth but didn't seem to be upset, more curious of the elf's presence.

"The non-humans will be getting the rights they want, and we will be getting the support from them militarily for the upcoming war as we want." A smile briefly graced Foltest's face as he raised his wine glass "Iorveth and our own Vernon Roche will be in charge of making sure the treaty is followed."

The old man hesitantly asked, "and they are willing to work together for this?"

"Well considering this treaty is going to be sealed with their marriage I do hope so." And with that, he sat down to enjoy his lunch as the room filled with chaotic whispering.

Roche sighed, and considered banging his head against the table, or walking out or something but just gave up and ate his salad.  
\----  
That dinner couldn't have ended sooner, Iorveth thought collapsing against his door. A sharp "Meow" broke through his thoughts. The little black cat from the ship was in his room. His eye lit up as he crouched down to pet her. 

The cat jumped up in his lap. "You need a name, river cat," the cat meowed, and he chuckled, "you like that? Aevon? Hmm, En'ca Aevon? Little river? It can just be Aevon for short?" The cat butted her head into Iorveth's chest and began to purr. "I'll take that as a yes."

Iorveth chuckled again, and took his bandana off relaxing against the door. His eye welled up with tears. Fucking hell, he was going to be married, married to a dh'oine. He needed to, that treaty was... He laid his head back against the door, continuing to pet Aevon, who tried to climb up him and tried to think of anything else.

A knock on his door jerked his attention back to the present. "Yes?" He called.

"It's Roche again. Uh, can we talk?"

Iorveth snorted, "sure give me a second." He coaxed Aevon off his lap, before brushing her fur off him.

"Come on in."

Roche opened the door slipping into his room. "Umm, we should probably talk."

Iorveth raised the eyebrow over his eye. "I suppose."

"Look I figure this is probably not how either of us planned for this to happen, shit I didn't think I ever would, but leaving all of that aside, if we're going to lead a combined team together, we should probably know each other from more than spy reports and battles. Right? I uh brought some moonshine if you want it?"

"Why the fucking not," Iorveth grumbled accepting the bottle from the bag Roche was holding. After this day he wanted to get very drunk.

Aevon meowed a greeting to their visitor. "Hi, there little lady. What do you think is a castle better than a ship?"

"Dunno how she got here."

"I asked Morlais if he was willing to sneak her in. I had actually asked Morgan if it was okay for you to keep her, but in the chaos I guess I forgot to tell you."

Iorveth paused, "why?"

"Why not? She seemed to really like you, Mom always said cats choose their hu- people, not the other way around."

Iorveth considered it. "Well for practicality's sake, we should talk about command structure."

"Probably best if for now if we keep it the same for now, at least until we can get the rest of our crazies to get along."

Iorveth thought about protesting, but considering it, simply sighed remembering some of his men's antics.

"After that, you and me as co-leaders, if one of us isn't there the other takes charge, if we're both out, Ves and Ciaran are in charge, and so on and so forth. Any clues on introducing our men to each other, without anyone getting stabbed?"

Iorveth drank some more of the moonshine. It was pretty good. "More of this moonshine should help." He offers.

Roche snorted, laying back against the wall, "I'll let PT know."

"Your...Medic?" He asked.

Roche hummed an agreement.

"Why does your medic make your moonshine?"

"It's a hobby."

"Hmm, tastes different from Lorcán or Morlais's stuff."

"What do they make?"

"Lorcán makes these fruity ciders and wines, and Morlais makes mead."

"Sounds like we have a party then."

"Morlais's stuff will knock you into next week."

Roche snorted. 

"And this stuff won't?"

Iorveth shrugged and reached for a second bottle.

Roche handed it to him.  
\----  
Roche looked down at the elf in his lap "You have a very pretty eye," he proclaimed.

Iorveth blinked back at him.

"Thank you," he slurred blushing.

"It's very green, like leaves. You are an elf with eyes like leaves." He waved his free arm around. Wait why couldn't he move his other arm? Oh yeah, Iorveth was examining it.

"Only one," Iorveth muttered mournfully, letting go of his other arm.

"Only one leaf?"

"Only got one eye."

"Oh yeah," he leaned down and kissed Iorveth's closed eyelid. Iorveth squeaked.

Just then a knock came at the door. Iorveth squeaked again and tried to scramble off of his lap, hiding under his bed. Roche slowly got up and stumbled to the door.

"Oliwia!" He offered a hug to the chambermaid. She stepped back surprised. 

"Commander Roche? What are you doing here?" 

"Yorf-Yorf," He shook his head, "Yorfeth and I are talking."

"And drinking I see." Another voice came from the hall.

"Mirosław!"

"You commander are drunk." She stared at him judging, not very impressed.

"You want some?"

"No, thank-you. I don't think you're heading to the mess hall for dinner, are you?"

Roche shook his head, hair flying everywhere. He touched the top of his head confused.

"Right I'll bring you a plate."

"Two, Iorveth's gonna wants some too." He turned back into the room. "Iorveth! Iorveth! Iorveth? Where'd ya go?"

"Right I'll be back with your food. Try to remember to stay in the room."

Roche was too busy looking for his elf in a desk to reply.  
\----  
Iorveth didn't want to come out from under the bed. It was nice and dark and safe under here. No dh'oine here.

"Yorfeth where are you?" He felt bad staying under here though. His dh'oine was stumbling about looking for him. He bit his lip.

"Dh'oine?"

Roche knelt down and looked under the bed. "Yorfeth! There you are. What'cha doing under there? Want more drink?"

Iorveth slowly nodded. "The dh'oine?"

Roche looked confused. "Oliwia and Mirosław? There left to get food. It's dinnertime."

"But gone?"

"Gonna get us food."

"Hmm, no more dh'ione."

"They aren't gonna hurt you."

"Hmm."

"Won't let anyone hurt'cha Yorfeth, your my Yorfeth."

Iorveth slowly crawled out from under his bed, wrapping his arms around his dh'oine's neck burying his face in his neck. Roche's hands came up, then paused.

"Can I touch ya?"

"Okay," Iorveth hesitantly answered.

Roche's warm hands touched his back, slowly rubbing up and down. Iorveth sighed into Roche's neck, relaxing into his touch. 

A knock came to the door again. Iorveth let out a whine.

"Shh, it's okay, I'll protect ya." He turns to the door, "You can come in!" He shouted.

Iorveth hid his face in his dh'oine's neck.

"You can just leave the food there." There was the sound of dh'oine moving around but then they started moving away and he heard the door close. He lifted his head up, and there were two plates of food sitting by them.

"Want food?"

Iorveth nodded, and they scooted over to the food and started to eat.

\----

Roche chuckled as he watched Iorveth's eye struggle to stay open, as he went off on a tangent about Ele'yas bringing home a succubus one day, while desperately trying to stay awake. 

"And then she was just there! I mean what was I supposed to do with her? But she asked for the, uh, vine same as all the rest, and I said yes. She fights okay, getting better, punches real good too." Iorveth rambled on, waving his hands spilling his drink all over himself, before nearly falling over in his seat.

"Tired?"

"No" Iorveth drunkenly slurred, shaking his head, hair flying everywhere. He wrinkled his nose and tried to blow it out of his face. It didn't work.

"Yeah, you're done for the night." He took the drink away from him, who whined but didn't try to take it back. "You're cute like this."

"You're just saying that cause we're supposed to fuck later," Iorveth grumbled, but he began trying to get into the bed.

"Won't fuck you."

"You gonna fuck someone else?"

"No, don't fuck a lot myself, and you said you didn't wanna fuck."

Iorveth looked at him confused. "Dh'ione fuck, like a lot."

"Not all of us. I, uh, I only want to fuck, if I like really like the person, it doesn't happen a lot, and I like to court them a bit first. I also got a hand if my body wants, uh, it."

Iorveth looked up at him, "You court?"

Roche blinked, "Uh, yeah, sometimes?"

Iorveth's look turned wistful, and so softly Roche could barely hear him he whispered "I always wanted to be courted." 

"Iorveth?"

A soft snore was his only reply. So he stumbled back to his own room and collapsed onto his bed, not bothering to change before falling asleep himself.


	8. The morning after

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry forgot this warning-  
> There is a rape fantasy in this chapter starting at "He wondered what it would have been like if Roche wasn't as respectful of his boundaries." and ending with "Well fuck."

Iorveth woke up and barely managed to pull his chamberpot out from under his bed before he vomited last night's dinner into it. Fucking hell, what was in that drink. He rolled over in the bed and threw his arm over his face.

A hesitant knock came from the door, and he winced at the sound. "Yes?" He croaked.

A dh'oine poked her head inside the room, "Um, hello Master Iorveth, I'm Oliwia, the chambermaid assigned to this room. May I come in?"

"Sure." His head hurt too much to think, but he watched her out the corner of his eye, just in case.

She slipped in, adding some scraps of fish to Aevon's food bowl, and poured some of the water in her pitcher into her water bowl. Aevon headbutted her, and Oliwia scratched her behind her ears.

Oliwia stood up, and walked over to his dresser and emptied the rest of her pitcher into the wash bowl there.

"Do you need anything Master Iorveth? Will you be heading to the mess hall or do you want anything delivered to break your fast?"

Iorveth wasn't quite sure what he was supposed to ask for, he was used to doing everything himself, but well. "Don't call me that, either just Iorveth, or if you need a title it would be Mhenadur," and he pushed himself up in a sitting position, a hand on his face, covering his missing eye "I'm unfortunately a bit hungover at the moment, so I do not think I'm quite up for being stared at dh'oine while trying to eat."

"Eggs and bacon then Mhenadur Iorveth, I think we have some apple cider?" She doesn't quite pronounce it right, but is clearly trying. 

"That sounds amazing. Also dinner kind of ended up in the chamberpot this morning," he admitted embarrassed.

"That's not a problem Mhenadur Iorveth." Oliwia took a breath then walked towards him, and knelt down grabbing the chamberpot, before giving a curtsy and heading for the door.

"If you wish, there is a private bath a few doors down. If you want to then I can take your clothes for cleaning when I return."

Iorveth considers this and asks, "do you know if anyone else plans to bathe?"

"The children all bathed last night, and his majesty has already bathed this morning, I do not know when Commander Roche plans to bathe."

"Please tell me he's not up yet either. He's the one who got me into this."

"The Blue Stripes' moonshine is fairly strong I've heard. My wife Mirosław, is the Commander's chambermaid, so I could inquire for you upon his condition."

"Thank-you. I believe I will take a quick dip."

"I'll take my leave then." She then left, quietly closing the door behind her."

Iorveth groaned but managed to stand up stumbling across his room, near tripping over Aevon, as she cried for attention. "Not now, go eat," he grumbled, grabbing his other set of clothes. He hoped he got his armor back soon, as much as he loved having actual elvish robes, he felt naked without it.

He didn't spot any towels in his room, so he hoped they were stored in the bathroom. He stepped outside a bit unsure, feeling like he wasn't supposed to be here, freely walking around in this dh'oine filled castle.

He found the bathing chamber easily enough, with a sign on it that seemed to have been made by little hands and slipped in, to find it thankfully unoccupied. The bath was huge, the largest personal one he had seen in what felt like forever. He quickly stripped down and looked for soaps and such, missing the door open behind him.  
\----  
This must be what hell is like, was Roche's first thought waking up. He groaned turning over hoping the knocking would stop. 

"Go away Mirosław."

"Hungover again Commander?"

Roche groaned. 

"Hope you're dressed, I'm coming in."

"One of these days I will end up being naked Mirosław, you do know that." His mouth felt like it was full of cotton.

"Your usual after drinking meal?"

"Yes please."

"Did your supper stay down?"

"So far," he grumbled as Mirosław refilled his water basin. "I'll let you know if or rather when that changes," he admitted, considering his stomach.

Mirosław snorted "Off to the baths then?"

"Yeah, hopefully that helps," he paused, "who got Iorveth's room by the way?"

"Oliwa did, she'll take good care of your elf," it was her turn to pause, "If he hurts her..."

"He won't," he assured her.

She adjusted a wrap she was wearing around her front, and he realized what was different about her.

"Oh! You had your baby?" He fought himself into a sitting position.

Mirosław smiled "a daughter, we named her Théodora, our little gift from the gods."

"Congratulations!" He awkwardly managed to stand, "I wish you and your family joy."

She snorted, "Go take your bath. I'll take care of things around here."

He nodded and left slowly making his way to the baths. 

The last thing he expected to see there was Iorveth, naked, looking around for something.

"Soaps are in the cupboard to your right, you can use mine for now, just ask Oliwa though and she can get you any kind you need."

"I don't need your charity."

"Not charity, just part of life in the Royal quarters."

Iorveth grumbled.

"Also if Foltest is making you an officer, then you should get a salary, should ask about it when we go to look at the treaty."

\-----  
"Look at it?" Iorveth questioned as he grabbed the soap, and a small cloth, wishing humans had figured out the trick of actually making it smell good, at least this smelt better than the peasant stuff. At least the bathwater was scented with all the herbs and rose petals and such in it.

"He's probably going to want a ceremony for the actual signing, but he'll want you to look it over first, to make sure there are no objections. Do you want me to wait outside?" Roche asked.

"No it's fine. It's big enough to share, and I'm guessing you're waiting on your meal as well?" 

Roche nodded and grabbed a cloth of his own, before pausing and picking up a pitcher of something out of a bucket of ice. "Do you want this?"

Iorveth eyed it warily, "What is it?"

"It's for cleaning hair, Anäis uses it. It's made of goat's milk and I think elm bark, willow root, and I think reed root."

Iorveth nodded, "Hmm, thank you." 

Roche replied, "Not a problem," and set the pitcher next to the edge of the bath. He then turned around and started to strip. 

Iorveth took this opportunity to slip into the bath. He knew that Roche had said that he would not touch him, and had backed that up with actions, even when they both were drunk, but he was still a bit hesitant about Roche spotting the differences in a dh'ione's genitals and an elf's. He wondered though if Roche already knew, he had tortured elves before, and even if he hadn't touched them, that doesn't mean they stayed dressed.

Iorveth sighed as he sat on a seat at the edge lathering his body in the soap, last night's talk had definitely helped, he felt on much more of an even footing. He could also see himself at least forming a friendship with Roche, even if he wasn't sure about the romance part of this all, or well. 

He glanced Roche as he undressed, turning away considering dh'ione and sex. Or more, sex with his dh'ione. Would he be rough or gentle? Would he like the differences between them, or not, or like them too much? Would he show his pukku and his puntil similar interest, or would he ignore one in favor of the other?

He didn't know what Roche prefered his bed partners to have, or if he had a preference at all, only that he prefered to know the person first, and liked to court. Would he be willing to court him if he dared to ask, considering their wedding was already a sure thing?

He pictured Roche laying him out upon the bed he had been given and slowly opening him up, while sucking on his puntil, until he was ready for Roche's own, very dh'oine, puntil pushing into him slowly, claiming him down to his bones. Humans were quite warm, and he had good things about their skills in bed play from those who chose to lay with them, so maybe their differences wouldn't be a big deal. He shifted where he stood, trying to subtly glance back over at Roche. 

Roche had finished bathing and so he got an eyeful of said dh'oine puntil. He felt his ears turn red as he turned away, cursing where his thoughts had led. He moved deeper into the tub to rinse the soap off.

"You done with the soap?"

"Yes."

Roche took a dip then sat on the edge on the opposite side to clean himself. 

Iorveth half floated for a bit, keeping the lower parts of his body below water.

"You gonna do your hair."

"You dh'oine move too fast."

"Well this dh'oine is hungry, figured you were too."

"I don't feel hungry." He didn't want to talk about this. He just wanted to finish bathing, eat, then take a nap and sleep the rest of this hangover off.

"If you're not hungry we're not going to force you to eat, you could always eat later."

Looks like he was talking about this. "No as in I do not experience hunger."

Roche looked at him understanding, "eating good regular meals can help, at least for some people." He then dived under the water for a moment.

Iorveth nodded, turning his focus over to the pitcher of hair cleaner.

"Want help?" Roche offered as he came up from rinsing himself.

"You seem very eager to get your hands on my hair, if you were an elf I'd consider you very forward for that, however given your other behavior towards me, my guess would be a lack of knowledge."

"Ah, I'm sorry, is hair...?" He trailed.

"Fairly intimate, generally speaking touching another's hair is reserved for family, lovers, and the most closest of friends."

"I'm sorry, I won't ask again." Roche swore.

Iorveth bit his lip. "Hmm, we are going to be married soon, and even if we play this as a on paper only marriage in private, we are going to have to act like this is a true marriage in public," he took a deep breath, "the other elves will expect you to touch my hair, as well as to braid it for me. I should probably try to get used to it."

"If you don't want me to touch you, then I'm not sure I'm comfortable touching you."

Iorveth frowned and sighed "I'd rather get used to this now."

"If you're sure."

"Yes."

Roche climbed out of the bath and hesitantly walked over to him, before sitting back down. Iorveth leaned back towards the edge, nearly jumping when he felt the first touch. 

"Not gonna hurt you." His hand stroked his head, and Iorveth shivered.

Roche gently took his hair out of it's braids, and ran his fingers through it. "Did you bring a comb?"

"Think I left it by the soap," Iorveth admitted.

He felt the warmth behind him disappear as Roche left to get his comb, sighing in what he told himself was not disappointment.

Roche was quick about it though and he sat back down and quickly hummed something under his breath as he combed Iorveth's hair. Iorveth sighed and leaned back further into his touch, curling his toes in the water. He was good at this. Iorveth decided to simply relax and try not to focus on who was touching his hair.

Roche scooped some of the milky substance out of the pitcher and began rubbing it into his hair starting at his scalp, this was different than what he tended to use, when soap was available, but it should work well enough. 

He still needed to make a gift for Foltest for accepting him into his house as a guest, and considered making scented elven soap for him as a gift. He racked his brain for a recipe, as Roche finished his hair. 

"Well that's it for this stuff." Roche rinsed out the pitcher in the bathwater, and scooped up some water. "Can you move forward a bit, and tilt your head up?" Iorveth grumbled but obliged, and Roche started rinsing his hair, before combing it again, before declaring it clean.

"Should I wait to braid it, since it's wet?" Roche asked.

"No it needs to dry a bit first," Iorveth admitted.

"Okay, well then your hair is done for now," Roche lingered awkwardly for a moment, before Roche got up and wandered over to the towels and began to dry himself. 

Iorveth waited before he left the room, clothes in hand wrapped in a towel, before getting out and drying himself, blushing as he noticed his puntil was half hard. He wrapped his towel around himself and held his clothes in front of him, hoping no one would notice.  
\-----  
Roche sighed as he entered his room, the memory of Iorveth's hair in his mind. It felt as soft as silk in his hands, and the way Iorveth relaxed against him was...

He sighed and put on a fresh uniform. Just as he did a knock sounded at his door, ringing in his head. "Come in," he shouted.

Mirosław entered carrying a tray. Roche could clearly smell the eggs and bacon on it. "Mirosław you are a lifesaver."

"Eat. Neither you nor your fox had a very good morning did you?"

His mind flashed to an image of Iorveth examining the soaps the large tattoo of a fox on his back. Perched on a log staring back at him, an one eye fox snarling at the viewer, getting ready to dart into the surrounding woods, all the while entwined with the familiar ivy vine tattoo of a Scoia'tael. He swallowed looking away. 

"Or maybe you two did have a good morning? Do I need to have the talk with you about how the bath is not the best place for that?"

"What? Oh no no no no no. That, nothing happened, we just bathed."

Mirosław raised her eyebrow but didn't comment, handing him his breakfast and taking yesterday's clothes to be washed.

As he sat and ate, he considered what he was going to do for the day. Something about last night tickled in the back of his brain.

"I always wanted to be courted."

Roche bit his lip, Iorveth's voice when he said that. This treaty was taking that away from him, Iorveth wouldn't get the chance to court and love, at least not until after Roche himself had died.

Unless...

Would Iorveth even accept a human trying to court him? Did he want to? Roche laid back on his bed considering this. Memories of the past few days came flooding back.

Iorveth playing with Aevon

Iorveth playing for the kids

His smug smirk when he knew he was right

Iorveth and Morlais fighting over breakfast

All of their debates on the way over

The way his eye lit up when he laughed

Iorveth snuggling against him in his sleep

Iorveth leaning against him in the bath.

Their kiss on the boat

It wouldn't hurt to try at least, he supposed. Guess he was heading to the library. Hopefully there would be something on Elvish courting customs in there. If not, he got the feeling Morlais would tell him, but that he would get far too much enjoyment out of it. Well here's hoping.  
\-----  
Iorveth came back to his room to find the dh'oine girl, Oliwia, he thinks her name was, changing the bedding on his bed. He froze in the doorway, while he had no issues with being naked around other elves, no matter how they present, but he wasn't as comfortable being naked around dh'oine and they weren't comfortable about nudity in general. He lingered in the doorway unsure of what to do. 

"Oh! Mhenadur Iorveth! My apologies, I'l only be a moment. You can come in if you want, I don't want to be a bother."

"I do not mind, I can wait."

She shifted awkwardly. "If you're sure."

She finished placing the new blankets on the bed, patting it down. She then gathered up the sheets and blankets and headed towards the door, Iorveth awkwardly offered her his clothes as she passed him.

Closing the door he leaned against it. He couldn't wait to go home. Oliwia had left his food on a bedside table. He ate quickly before laying back down, he was feeling a bit better but he still wanted to lay back down, so he curled up on top of the blankets and closed his eyes.  
\----  
Roche grumbled as he rummaged through the shelves of the Royal library. How hard could it be to find a book on elven customs.

"Need a hand?"

Roche yelped as he bumped his head in startelement as he tried to turn around.

A young dark haired teenage girl, maybe 14ish, in a dark blue dress stared up with gold eyes. She had a calico kitten sleeping on her head between two buns, and, was that a snake around her neck?

"Uh what?"

"Do you need any help?"

"Ahh, do you have any books on elvish customs?"

"Sure! This way!" She motioned for him to follow her and he did.

All the way over to the right books the girl kept talking to her snake, who was bobbing his head up and down as she spoke.

"Anything in peculiar for elvish customs you're looking for? I'm Gwen, by the way. I'm. Uncle's Jaromir's apprentice here at the Royal Library."

"Courting customs?"

Gwen giggled a little as she grabbed a couple of books, checking titles. 

"These should help then. Do you need anything else?" The kitten yawned on top of her.

"No, not right now. Thank you?"

A voice called from another room "Gwen?"

"Uncle is calling for me. Nice to meet you, Commander Roche!"

Roche waved as she left. He then settled into a nearby chair and began to read.  
\----  
Iorveth woke up again yawning and stretching out. He looked around at his room. Pushing himself up he walked over to his dresser and pulled out his other set of clothes. 

He remembers being told that most people do spend their lunches at the mess hall, and sighs as he leaves his room. 

Making his way down the hall he felt the stares of the dh'oine around him, but he simply held his head high and ignored them and kept going. Walking into the mess hall he frowned, not spotting Roche. 

A red haired young dh'oine walked over to him, "You must be Mhenadur Iorveth."

He raised his eyebrow, "and you are Princess Adda aren't you?"

"Guilty as charged."

She guided him up to the royal table and to the seat next to her.

"Uncle Roche doesn't alway come to lunch, I don't know where he is, and Miss Triss is in the middle of an important experiment, so she has been excused."

He eyed King Foltest who seemed to be invested in talking to Anaïs on his other side,"I see, may I ask why you seem so interested in talking to me? Unlike Anaïs or Boussy you certainly are old enough to know who I am."

"What and the fact that you're interesting isn't enough?" 

The appetizers were placed in front of them, Iorveth thought of the pattern he learned last night, and waited.

"In all honesty though, you're the first other non-human I have been able to talk to, and other than the witcher who saved me, only one I've met."

"I wasn't aware that you were a non-human. From your mother?"

Adda considered this, "well in a way, a noble was jealous of my mother's relationship, and placed a curse on me before I was even born. I spent the first years of my life stuck in the form of a Strigga. King Foltest tried to hire witchers to save me, but most failed." She turned away not giving any details on that comment. "But the last one managed to free me, so now I have a human form again, but I do not know if I would be considered truly human. I have thoughts and instincts that normal humans do not have."

"That's very interesting, I had heard rumors of a strigga living in the capital, but not who it was."

"King Foltest and Uncle Roche did a good job keeping it under wraps."

"And yet you're telling me?" He spotted the que that told him he was finally allowed to eat.

"You'll be family soon enough. Have Uncle Roche and you decided on a date?"

Iorveth choked on his wine. "No, not yet."

"I'm sorry this is happening a bit fast."

"It was... unexpected, for sure." He noticed the king had finished his conversation with his daughter and turned his attention to his niece, or well considering the rumors. If she wasn't going to bring them up, neither was he. She had been a pleasant enough seat partner so far.

"That reminds me," Foltest said, "whenever Roche shows up again, please come to my office, he knows the way."

"Yes Your Majesty." Iorveth gave a half bow from his seat, and continued his meal.  
\----  
Roche frowned as he scanned the stalls at the market. Nothing seemed right. The book said that the three big gifts for elvish courtship were a comb when it became serious, a silver ring to declare engagement and a golden ring for marriage. He wanted to find at least the silver ring. 

Something caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. It was a copper comb. It was made of twisted knots of vines, peppered with small flowers, with four large leaves with a simple looking fox in the center.

He looked up at the bored merchant.

"How much?"

"50 orens."

Roche nodded and handed over the coin. The merchant took the comb and wrapped it in wax paper before handing it over. Roche took the comb and stuck it in his pocket, before moving on to the other stalls still looking.

He saw cloth, toys, tools, food, and plenty of rings, but not the right ones. He had to keep looking.  
\-----  
Where the fuck was Roche? Iorveth had been up and down this castle and couldn't find Roche anywhere. Pushing open a door with a snarl, he froze as he found the dh'oine inside staring back at him. He sighed, and tiredly asked "has anyone seen Roche?"

A teapot whistles behind them. 

Iorveth sighs.

One of the cooks stepped forward, "no Master Mhenadur Iorveth Sir."

Iorveth winced. "Just Mhenadur is fine."

"Mhenadur Iorveth?"

He nodded. The teapot continued to scream. "Is anyone gonna get that?"

One of the cooks grabbed the copper teapot taking it off the fire. 

"Okay everybody back to work!" An older dh'oine in a fancier uniform stepped forward and began to shoo everyone back to their stations. "Mhenadur Iorveth?"

"No chance you've seen Roche either?"

"I heard he was heading down to the market. Sorry."

Iorveth pressed a hand to his face. "No, no. Thank you."

"Do you want anything else?"

"I need a snack, do you have any berries?"

"I think we got some white mulberries yesterday?"

"Please."

The cook handed him a small red bowl and he leaned against a wall and tried to calm himself while munching on the sweet berries. The warmth and smells of the cooking food helped. He watched the cleaning of the silverware and the gold and silver goblets as they prepared for dinner. The cooks ran around fully ignoring him.  
\-----  
Roche had found another ring stall. He scanned the rings and spotted two he really liked. One was a silver ring shaped as a vine inlaid with little moonstones on the leaves, the other one was a breathtaking golden ring. Two vines intertwined with each other blooming into a beautifully cut ruby gem crowned with leaves at it's base. 

"Fuck me sideways," he looked up at the merchant, "how much for these two?"

"160 for the silver one, 220 for the gold," the merchant offered.

"I'll take them."

"Both?"

"Okay," she shrugged, and wrapped them in wax paper and stuck them in separate cloth bags.  
\----  
Iorveth trugged back to his room. He collapsed back onto his bed. Well at least he knew the castle better now. He kicked his pants down and reached down with a sigh.  
He might as well take some time to himself while he waited. 

He started out by simply stroking his puntil to full hardness. He rubbed his legs together as he felt his pukku getting slick below. He let his mind wander for a bit.

He started with an old memory of a very enjoyable evening with his former lover Cedric. Soft kisses under an old oak turning firm as his lover took control of the kiss. 

Hmm, he wasn't feeling it.

Hmm. What about Jagoda. She was his first back before there was any dh'oine. He imagined being pushed back on the bed as she climbed on top of him, with the taste of mullberries on his tongue still, he could almost imagine she had just kissed him. She held him down, hands exploring under his shirt. 

He groaned. It still didn't feel right. 

He bit his lip, an idea twigging in the back of his head.

He wondered what it would have been like if Roche wasn't as respectful of his boundaries. What if he had just claimed him when the dh'oine king had offered Iorveth to him with that treaty. What if-

Iorveth gasped against the table as Roche held him against it with his much warmer dh'oine body, grinding up against him. He felt him bite down on his neck too high for any of his robes to hide. 

He cried out as Roche tore his robes from him, tossing the scraps to the floor. He grabbed him by his hair and tossed him across one of the chairs before slapping his ass. 

"R...Roche stop, please." He looked up to see the dh'oine king watching them bored, before shaking his head and writing something down on the paper.

He heard a grunt and Roche's pants falling to the ground, before forcing his legs apart. Iorveth tried to stop him, tried to fight and get up, only for Roche to pin him down to the chair. Roche grabbed the scarf from his former outfit and tied his hands together.

"Go ahead scream. Name one person here who would care." He rubbed his cock against his ass, before slipping lower to his pukku. "Oh fuck very nice, a very nice cunt. Come on scream for me, pet." 

He slipped inside Iorveth with a single strike and Iorveth screamed, babbling, begging Roche to stop, please no, please no. 

"Fucking look at you, your so fucking wet for me. You want this bitch, do you walk away from our fights desperate for a cock? Don't worry I'll give you all the cock you would ever want." He fucked him, in out, in out, never giving him any rest, relentlessly pounding him. 

Gripping his hair Roche pulled his head back forcing him into a kiss, his tongue invading his mouth-

Iorveth shuddered around his fingers inside him, biting down on his lip as he came all over himself. He sighed and stared up at the ceiling, absently noticing a fly buzzing around.

Well fuck.  
\---

Roche decided to go back to the castle, it was almost dinnertime and he had missed lunch. Just as he was reaching the edge of the market though something caught his eye. A set of gorgeous silvery blue elvish robes, with a high collar highly detailed silver vest. It had long voluminous sleeves and looked so very formal. Roche pictured Iorveth in them and blushed. It was perfect.

It couldn't hurt to ask. "How much?"

The merchant snorted and didn't even look at him in his civilian clothes. "The robes? No way you can afford them."

He grit his teeth "How. Much."

"10,000 orens. It's authentic."

"I'm aware, I'll take it." He pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and wrote the amount on it before signing it. He then pulled out a thin piece of metal with a seal upon it. 

The merchant now looked scared. Generally only nobles and the Royal family had these kind of seals. "You can charge it to my account."

The merchant looked down at the paper, face white, "Yes Commander Roche Sir." He took the robes and carefully packed them away. "Would you like them delivered?"

"How long would that take?"

"I can have it up to the castle before nightfall."

Roche nodded, he would need to remember to ask Mirosław if she could run it up to his rooms, or at least have one of the pages do so.  
\---  
Iorveth was walking down to dinner quite annoyed. Roche still hadn't shown up. He sighed, at least Princess Adda wasn't a poor seat partner.

He stepped into the dinning hall preparing himself to be stared at by the oh so noble dh'oine. Of course this is where Roche shows up pristine in his uniform. He was engaged in conversation with Princess Adda as he took his seat next to him.

"Iorveth! How was your day?"

"It was...fine. May I ask where you got to? King Foltest wished to speak with us?"

"Sorry Iorveth. Took a spur of the moment trip down to market. Something you said last night really spoke to me."

"Ah Roche. We missed you at lunch today."

"I apologize your Majesty."

"I need to speak with you and Iorveth after dinner."

"Of course your majesty."

Iorveth was confused. What had he said? His memory of last night was a little fuzzy. He slowly ate his food as he chewed last night over in his mind.  
\----  
Roche watched Iorveth read over the treaty carefully to make sure nothing had been slipped in. He looked up at them and nodded. "I will sign this."

"Good. I can have the ceremony set up by tomorrow. Have either of you set a date for your marriage? It will need to be announced with the treaty. It will need to be soon."

"I'm sorry sir, I have not."

"Belleteyn is coming up, it would be considered a time of good luck."

"That's what about a month?"

"Yes."

"If you want to. I don't really have a better idea."

Iorveth suddenly frowned and turned to Foltest, "does it matter the type or place of the wedding? I do not wish to be stared at for more than is needed."

"As long as you are married it does not matter how. However would you be willing to have it here if it is a closed door event? I think the children would be upset they couldn't attend their Uncle Roche's wedding."

"As long as we can control who comes, that's fine."

"Roche?" His king asked.

"That's fine sir."

"Very well then after the ceremony at lunchtime tomorrow, you may go back to your men and begin to prepare for the ceremony on Belleteyn."

"Good, I don't wanna leave my idiots alone for much longer," Roche huffed "don't want to get back there to find they burned the place down."

Iorveth put on a pained look, probably thinking of what his own men were up to. "Or try for a rescue mission." He shook his head. "I will go in the morning to speak with the closest Scoia'tael band."

Foltest and Roche froze for a moment before Roche asked, "Are they actually that close?"

Iorveth grinned wildly at him, "why don't you come with and see, I'll introduce you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I am almost done with the next and final chapter. However don't worry there will be multiple sequels. I will be taking a two-week break to work on some other fics, but then I will be back. I have many, many plans for this verse.


	9. The treaty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter! I'm gonna cry. This series will be continued after a small break.

Morning came quickly for Iorveth, though at least this time he wasn't hungover. He stretched out and stood up scratching his back. Quickly grabbing his clothes he dressed before heading across the hallway to Roche's room.

Roche answered pretty quickly after he knocked. "I just need to get my shoes on, almost ready. Can you come in for a second? I got something for you." He looked nervous.

Hesitantly Iorveth came in, scanning the room, just in case. His breath caught when he saw the outfit on the bed.

"I, what? Dh'oine why? There is no need to keep buying me these." He touched the fine fabric, more than he could have ever afforded even before the dh'oine came.

"When," Roche licked his lips nervously, "when we got drunk, I, how much do you remember?"

"Not much to be honest, last thing I remember is bolting under the bed."

Roche nodded, "Yeah, when Oliwia came to ask if we wanted food." He shook his head, "we drank for quite a while after that, and um, right before I left, you were drifting off pretty fast at that point, and well..."

"Spit it out dh'oine."

Roche took a deep breath, "You said you wanted to be courted. Not by me in particular, just that it was something you wanted."

Iorveth's stomach dropped.

"So I went looking for books, to see if we had any on elvish courting customs. I know we don't have time to do the whole year long courtship, and you can say no, the stuffs still all yours, and I can't promise to make it perfect, I'm not, I just..."

"There's more?" His mouth was dry, he wasn't sure how he wanted to take this.

Roche silently handed him a small bag. He opened it up to find a hair comb with a fox on it. He traced the design with his fingers. When he looked back up, Roche had knelt before him and was holding out a silver ring.

"Iorveth will you let me court you?"

\-----

Roche shifted nervously, worried about Iorveth's reaction. But the elf simply reached out and silently took the ring from his hand, examining it in his hand. 

Roche looks up trying to figure out what Iorveth was thinking. His eyes went wide as he saw Iorveth's eye was full of tears. "Iorveth?"

Iorveth opened his mouth before closing it again, swallowing. "I, yes Roche, you may court me. I will give you this chance. I accept."

Roche slowly stood up, "Thank you Iorveth. I..." His words were cut off by an armful of sobbing elf burrowing his face into his neck.

"Why the fuck am I crying?"

Roche hesitantly put his arms around Iorveth, trying to comfort him. "Hey it's gonna be okay, a lot of stuff's been changing fairly quickly, you're probably due for a good cry. I would be." He rocked back and forth a little, trying to help him calm down.

After a few minutes Iorveth pulled away, stepping back, drying his eye with his already tear soaked bandana. "Fuck."

"Still want to go out."

"Yes I need to speak to Cansaí Yaevinn. First of all Vizima is his territory, and secondly he can spread the word for everyone to stand down. Fuck, we probably still will need to have a meeting of all the leaders in Termaria at least. Still Yaevinn can also spread the word on that."

"How many bands are there here? We were never able to get a good count."

Iorveth smirked at him, "That would be telling, dh'oine."

Roche huffed amusedly, shaking his head. He grabbed his shoes and threw them on, now ready to go. 

Iorveth gave the outfit another look, so he asked "do you want me to step out?"

Iorveth snorted, "You can stay."

"Do you want me to turn away?"

Iorveth rolled his eye, exasperatingly huffing "Dh'oine."

Roche laughed, and smiled.

Iorveth slipped out of his clothes and quickly changed into the new ones before looking up at Roche grinning. Roche was wary of that grin. "Now to see an elf about a boat."

\----

Iorveth led Roche down the hall back to the docks to where Morlais was waiting for them. 

"Ahoy!" came the call from a small sailing dinghy.

Iorveth gave a mock bow to Roche motioning him to their boat.

"Should I ask where you two got this or should I not ask?"

"Don't worry dh'oine! I asked permission first. We just need to get it back before lunch."

Roche shook his head as he climbed aboard, "Well then. Let's get going we need to be back before lunch" 

Iorveth grinned hopping a board and getting ready for the trip. "Don't worry dh'oine, just brace yourself and hold on."

Roche looked back at him, "any peculiar reason why?"

Iorveth grinned at him. Roche braced himself against the boat gripping it tight. Iorveth then nodded at Morlais, who gave him a crazy grin and pressed his fingers against the mast, closing his eyes and breathed out. 

The sail immediately reacted as though they had caught a gust of wind. Morlais's eyes popped open while letting out a happy cry as they raced towards the lake. Roche also let out a cry, though his was less happy.

They quickly made it past the dike and into the lake proper. They kept towards the swamp side of the lake, away from the majority of the dh'oine. When the island that the altar of Dagon was on came into view, he let out a series of whistles, and Morlais turned towards the lake town. And as land grew near, he let out more whistles guiding Morlais to where he knew the camp was, Morlais slowly letting up on the wind.

When they landed not even a bell had passed. 

"Fuck you weren't kidding."

Iorveth jumped out of the boat scanning the area for a lookout. Spotting a flash of white hair, he whistled a greeting.

He got a hesitant whistle back and then the lookout was gone. Either way Yaevinn now knew he was coming with guests.   
\---

Roche followed closely behind Iorveth, Morlais behind him, refusing to admit he was a bit nervous about meeting another Scoia'teal leader, as long as he stayed by Iorveth's side he should be safe, if they didn't see him as a threat. 

His fingers touched his sword. Shit. "Wait, Iorveth." The elf looked back at him curious. Roche took off his sword. "Here, you take this instead." Iorveth frowned but accepted the blade attaching it to his own belt.

He followed Iorveth around the corner where he saw a small cave entrance. Iorveth whistled again before entering the cave. He ducked his head and followed. Looking around he saw the cave was larger than expected, and he saw a fire burning up ahead.

"Iorveth?" A thin elf with long black hair approached them. "What are you doing here? And with a dh'oine?" The elf did a double take when he saw who he was. "Iorveth this is, I trust you have a good story to tell, explaining why you have brought this dh'oine here.

"Yaevinn, I have some very good news, and my dh'oine is part of it."

Yaevinn frowned, "I do not understand, but I will listen."

"Five days ago Commander Roche of the blue stripes captured me. He brought me to Vizima and before King Foltest."

The room went silent.

"He wished to treat with me."

"And you came to agreement with one another?"

Iorveth pulled a piece of paper from his pocket. "Here read this. This is what I will be signing this afternoon."

Yaevinn took the paper and read through it again and again. "This is too good to be true. However may I ask for you to clarify this part for me?" He pointed to the spot where it spoke of Roche marrying Iorveth.

"Yes, I saw and agreed. It is a small price to pay for the rest, and he has been nothing but respectful to me."

Another elf with two braids falling by her face, came up to them, and asked a question in elder tongue. Iorveth answered her and before Roche knew what was going on she had to leap at him shouting and Iorveth had drawn his blade to stop her. The cave went into an uproar. 

Morlais pushed him into a crevice in the wall and stood in front of him. This was not good.

"ENOUGH!" Iorveth finally shouted. "I have made my choice, and though we are speeding things up, have accepted the traditional gifts from him. He gave me these robes when he asked if he may court me formally, then offered a comb and finally a silver ring. That he did so so quickly should not be held against him though as per the treaty we needed to wed sooner rather than later. I offered the date of Belleteyn and he agreed." 

The room quieted a bit, but was still uneasy. 

"You trust him? Everyone knows these dh'oine are sex-obbsessed murderers."

"He has treated me with the utmost respect so far Toruviel."

"And once you are wed?"

Roche pushed Morlais who stepped aside. He walked up to the angry elf, Toruviel, who drew a blade at him, much to Iorveth's displeasure, by the sound he made.

"As I told Iorveth when we were first told of this condition, I will not touch him unless he wills it. If he wants we will leave this as a marriage that only exists on paper, and only know each other as colleagues, or perhaps friends."

She lowered her knife, "And yet you court him."

"He deserves to be courted, is that so strange?"

She stared at him, before turning and walking away. "I will have no part in this charade."

"Then leave or challenge, Bi'aire Toruviel aep Sihiel, for I will not let you ruin this chance for the rest of us. You did not even read the treaty before judging my choice. This offer is too good to not pass up. I cannot let it slip by."

Toruviel snarled and left the cave. "Do you not think he knows that?"  
\----  
Iorveth felt out of breath. "Anyone else wish to object?"

The room stayed quiet. An one eyed elf covered in burned scars with a blue scarf wrapped around her head spoke up, "I do not protest Mhenadur Iorveth, but why is the dh'oine king willing to treat now?" The elf sitting next to her with short dark curls squeezed her hand comforting her.

Iorveth answered Séarlait, who was Yaevinn's top strategist, "In a word, Nilfgaard. You've seen the signs, same as I, they simply wish to be able to focus on defending their," he spat the word, "territory from other dh'oine rather than us."

"Who cares why they give us your rights as long as we get them?" Shouted the white haired elf that had been on lookout earlier.

"If they keep their word, that is," said Brónach, concerned evident in her voice. Her girlfriend brought their still laced together hands up her chapped lips and kissed them.

"Considering what they are offering, I see no choice but to agree. Unless they show otherwise, you are to cease attacks against Termaria."

"What are we to do then? We need food and supplies." 

Roche stepped forward, "Any Scoia'teal bands that are willing to keep an eye out for Nilfgaardians will be getting direct funding from the crown, with bonuses available. And if anyone is uninterested in fighting, as part of the treaty a program is going to be set up to help non-humans with getting access to things such as apprenticeships, work, land, and schooling. There will not be made a difference between those who already live in human cities, and Scoia'teal. We will also be looking for non-humans to help lead this program as well."

This caused whispering to break out between the elves.

Iorveth nodded and turned back to Yaevinn, who had been unusually quiet. "Cansaí Yaevinn will you come back with us to witness the signing of this treaty?"

Yaevinn nodded and gave a half bow, "Yes Mhenadur Iorveth, I think I will."  
\----  
Roche wasn't any more of a fan of Morlais' boat magic on the way back then he was on the way there. At least Yaevinn didn't seem to be happy about it either. 

Glancing back at the shoreline Roche saw Toruviel watching them leave, hands fisted at her side, before she went back to the cave.

Roche had to put her out of his mind as the boat sped up and he had to hold on for dear life, Morlais laughing his head off in the background.

Once they got off the boat, and they rentered the castle, Yaevinn put his hand on his shoulder, "just a moment Commander."

He turned and faced the elf as the other two went ahead. Iorveth glanced back, but when Yaevinn shook his head he kept on going. 

"Yes?"

Yaevinn directly met his eyes, "Iorveth does not trust easily dh'oine, yet he seems to be willing to trust you. That is a precious gift, a rare flower blooming right in front of your eyes. Take care of it lest it wilt. And if it does wilt, I and the others will find out, and you will regret it for every moment of the rest of your very short life. Do you understand me?"

"Yes Cansaí Yaevinn," Roche glanced in Iorveth's direction where he was talking to Morlais while they waited for them.

"Good," Yaevinn patted his shoulder as he kept walking.

"And Yaevin? If I did ever 'wilt the flower of his trust' I would deserve anything you would do to me."

Yaevinn smiled for the first time, "As long as we are understood."

They rejoined the other two as they approached the throne room and the very curious herald in front. "Are they ready Léonide?"

"Yes Commander, if I am to be so bold, I know Mhenadur Iorveth, but I do not know the other two Scoia'teal with you."

"This is Cansaí Yaevinn, he's apparently our local Scoia'teal leader, and," he was cut off.

"Morlais Tordarroch of Undvik, one of Iorveth's men." Morlais injected.

Roche nodded, "There here to bear witness to the signing."

"Very well." They opened the door, "Announcing Commander Veron Roche of the Blue Stripes, Mheaunder Iorveth of the Scoia'teal, Cansaí Yaevinn of the Scoia'teal, and Morlias Tordarroch of Undvik."

There were many nobles in the room with the royal guard standing at attention at the edges. They approached the throne where Foltest and Adda were, and bowed. Foltest stood from his throne and held up his sceptre, "Enter and be welcome honored guests."

Foltest walked down from his throne to where the treaty was sitting on a table, Adda following behind him. Roche went and stood by his king, and the three Scoia'teal stood on the other side. Roche hated this next part.

"I, King Foltest of Termaria, Son of King Medell the Steady and Queen Sancia of Sodden, Prince of Sodden, Sovereign of Pontaria and Mahakam, and Senior Protector of Brugge and Ellander do solemnly swear to uphold this treaty to the best of my abilities." And with that he signed the treaty. 

Adda was next. "I, Crown Princess Adda the White of Termaria, protector of Vizima do solemnly swear to uphold this treaty to the best of my abilities." 

His turn, "I, Commander Vernon Roche, Commander of the Special Forces unit the Blue Stripes do solemnly swear to uphold this treaty to the best of my abilities."

"I, Mhenadur Iorveth ar Cáelmewedd, Woedtir Crevan, wedd aép Deryn ar Cáelmewedd an Conrí ar Cáelmewedd, Mhenadur ar Scoia'teal, do solemnly swear to uphold this treaty to the best of my abilities." 

"I, Cansaí Yaevinn ar Xin'trea, wedd aép Gwyneth ar Xin'trea an Alister ar Xin'trea, Cansaí ar Scoia'teal, do solemnly swear to uphold this treaty to the best of my abilities."

"I, Morlais Tordarroch ar Undvik, Minnemarwd y Fearchar, wedd aép Teàrlag ar Dol Blathanna an Sachairi ar Cidaris an wedd aép Aava Tordarroch ar Undvik an Thorbjørn Tordarroch ar Undvik, Comando ar Scoia'teal, do solemnly swear to uphold this treaty to the best of my abilities."

Foltest and Iorveth shook hands, thankfully his king did not try to pull the elf into a hug as he had done before with other treaties.

"Right then, enough of this, let's go eat." His king shouted.  
\-----

Iorveth packed his clothes in his bag. He had finally been given back his armor and weapons to his relief. It felt strange wearing them after wearing robes for almost a week, but in a good way.

He stepped outside where he got barreled into. "Oof." He looked down at his legs.

"Anaïs! Boussy! Get back here, please leave that elf alone."

Or rather the two small dh'oine attached to his legs.

"No!" 

"Anaïs! Let him go!"

"If Uncle Iorveth goes then Uncle Roche goes too." Anaïs cried.

'Uncle Iorveth?' Iorveth thinks panicked, "We will be returning in a month to be wed. You will be able to see your Uncle Roche then."

They only gripped his leg harder, sniffling. "Can't we go with you?" Boussy whispered.

"I do not think so. You'd have to ask your father."

Ari slowly approached him. "Come on now you two, please let him go." He took a big breath, "How about this, if he gives you a hug, will you let him go?"

Iorveth suddenly had twin pairs of pleading eyes looking up at him.

"I, very well." They let go and he knelt down, allowing the little ones to wrap their arms around him, and after a moment he hesitantly began hugging them back. 

Finally they let him go, still unhappy, and he stood up as they left their brother, and he continued on his way to the boat.

He missed Ari glancing back at him confused.  
\----  
Roche boarded the boat to head back to Flotsam.

He couldn't wait to be back with his men, though he wasn't sure how they were gonna take this or how Iorveth's men were gonna take this for that matter. At least Morlais seemed to be taking it well.

"So should I start calling you daddy now or should I wait till after the wedding?"

A little too well to be honest.

"Oh hell no, how about never."

"Oh come on Roche."

"That is not happening, no."

"Fine. Killjoy."

Roche snorted and entered his cabin. Iorveth was sitting on the bed with his recorder. He settles down on the couch. 

Iorveth paused his playing and looked at him for a moment. "If you'd like you can share the bed with me this time."

"You sure?"

Iorveth shrugged, "It was, nice, the last time."

Roche walked over to the bed and sat down next to him as Iorveth continued playing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "I, Mhenadur Iorveth (of) Cáelmewedd, (the woodland fox), (child of) Deryn (of) Cáelmewedd (and) Conrí (of) Cáelmewedd, (leadership title) (of the) Scoia'teal, do solemnly swear to uphold this treaty to the best of my abilities." 
> 
> "I, Cansaí Yaevinn (of) (Cintra), (child of) Gwyneth (of) (Cintra) (and) Alister (of) (Cintra), (leadership title) (of the) Scoia'teal, do solemnly swear to uphold this treaty to the best of my abilities."
> 
> "I, Morlais Tordarroch (of) Undvik, (widower of) Fearchar, (child of) Teàrlag (of) Dol Blathanna (and) Sachairi (of) Cidaris (and) (child of) Aava Tordarroch (of) Undvik (and) Thorbjørn Tordarroch (of) Undvik, (position title) (of the) Scoia'teal, do solemnly swear to uphold this treaty to the best of my abilities."
> 
> Also my Scoia'tael titles
> 
> 1\. Mhenadur- The two survivors of the Ravine of the Hydra (Iorveth and Isengrim) Scoia'tael leaders
> 
> 2\. Cansaí-Scoia'tael leaders with large territories or important territories  
> 3\. No'gaisu-Scoia'tael leaders with small territories   
> 4\. Bi'aire -Scoia'tael leaders with no territory
> 
> 5\. Gin'daran-Scoia'tael second-in-commands with large territories or important territories  
> 6\. Eil'daran- Scoia'tael second-in-commands with small territories  
> 7\. Daran- Scoia'tael second-in-commands with no territory
> 
> 8\. Haelan - Scoia'teal medics
> 
> everyone else is ranked varied to age and time as a Scoia'tael


End file.
